SAO: Filling in the Blanks
by Shrrg
Summary: A collection of moments between the characters of SAO during the two unmentioned years in the anime, as well as the two weeks Kirito and Asuna spent together on the 22nd floor. R&R! :D P:S: CHAPTER 4: READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE!
1. (October 25th, 2024)

**Hello, dear reader! Thanks so much for stopping by to check this out. This is my first fic on Sword Art Online, so please supply constructive criticism in the reviews with possible! This will be a series on various moments between the characters of SAO during the two years which were unmentioned in the anime, as well as the two weeks Kirito and Asuna spent together on the 22nd floor. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter One - Paralysis (October 25th, 2024)**

For the first time in what felt like years (and it was, actually) Kirito woke up with a familiar roof over his head and a warm body pressed against him.

Rather than opening his eyes to the harsh world that awaited him, he chose instead to inhale deeply, clearing his nostrils of the activities of the night previous and also drawing in a very identifiable scent. Smiling slightly, Kirito thought, _Asuna,_ and blindly pressed his face against the warmth to his right.

Unfortunately, his actions did not go unnoticed, and his in-game wife murmured softly and shifted her position. Kirito blandly cursed himself for disturbing his angel's sleep, and cracked his eyes open at last, aiming to apologize. He was met rather quickly with a pair of amber eyes that seemed to stare straight thought him.

Gulping, Kirito let out a tired smile and tightened his arm around Asuna, saying in a husky morning voice, "Sleep well?"

Asuna didn't answer, instead burying her face into his neck and beginning to purr in content. Kirito hummed happily, inhaling the faint strawberry scent of her hair and enjoying the blessed moment of silence. The moment of time was bliss. All things had to end though, and eventually Asuna drew her head back and pushed Kirito down so she could lay her body upon his, belly to belly. Smirking thoughtfully at the blush on her man's face, Asuna whispered, "Good morning."

"Morning," Kirito breathed, reaching up to twine his fingers through Asuna's auburn hair, the other hand going to cup her cheek. Giggling, Asuna drew a slow finger down Kirito's chest and said, "So...what do you want to do today?"

"Hmmm," Kirito hummed, his gaze falling just slightly downwards of Asuna's eyes to stare at something just below her nose. "I might have some sort of idea."

"Enlighten me," Asuna grinned, her face so close that their noses were almost squashed between them.

"How about..." Kirito's eyelids drooped slightly and he let out a wolfish grin. "You?" And then he pulled Asuna's head down to engage her in a sweet good morning's kiss, an embrace that was admittedly marred by morning breath and clumsy, sleepy tongues, but it was sweet to them both nonetheless. So it wasn't until they needed to breathe and Asuna pulled back that she realized her husband's blunder.

"Wait," Asuna panted, pressing a finger to Kirito's lips to halt their advancement.

"Asuna?" he said, suddenly worried that he had been too forward.

"What was it you said before?" she elaborated, arching an eyebrow and giving her husband a searching look.

Blinking briefly, Kirito replied, "I said I wanted to do..." His words trailed off as his train of thought flew off the tracks and burned to the ground. "Oh...crap," he managed to choke out, turning crimson. Asuna could only laugh uncontrollably as her mate began to splutter, aimlessly trying to get his thoughts in order. "That's not what I meant! I was just trying to say that I wanted to _have_ you...no wait, not that either! I meant-"

Asuna decided her partner had suffered long enough and silenced him by crushing their lips together, tongues more lively now from their recent practice. When they pulled apart, Kirito's eyes were half lidded and he mumbled, "Asuna...?" for she was rarely so blunt when expressing herself. _Maybe it's wife thing,_ he mused.

"You don't have to explain yourself to me," Asuna grinned, laying her head on his chest and closing her eyes. Kirito's hand almost immediately fell to stroking her soft hair. "After all, you chose me over both Lisbeth and Silica, didn't you?"

The words were designed to tease, but they made Kirito flare crimson. "I don't see them that way," he said, trying not to let his heartbeat accelerate when Asuna was laying on his chest.

"Oh, are you sure?" Asuna pressed, grinning mockingly now. "I've received quite a detailed account of your escapades with Silica on the 47th floor."

"I was helping her revive Pina," Kirito frowned, not understanding his wife's point.

"Isn't the Flower Garden where couples go to do dirty things?" Asuna asked bluntly, inwardly roaring with laughter when her partner's heartbeat tripled beneath her ear.

"They go there for romantic _dates,_ not _"dirty things,"_ Kirito corrected blandly, "And I didn't even know about that until Silica noticed herself, so get off my case." And with that, he let out a harrumph and stacked his hands beneath his head, no longer stroking Asuna's head.

Pouting, Asuna closed her eyes again. Perhaps she'd gone too far with her teasing. It was easy to forget that Kirito was naturally an antisocial person, even though she felt that had been brought on by his obsession with online games. Really, it was unhealthy for someone his age to spend so much time in seclusion.

"You sound like my mother," Kirito sighed, his eyes also closed. "And besides, if I didn't play games we never would have met, remember?"

Eyes snapping open, Asuna looked at her husband incredulously. "How did you know what I was thinking?"

Sending her nothing but a brief wink, Kirito said, "Trade secret."

"We're part of the same trade," Asuna said cheekily, starting up at him from his chest until they made eye contact.

Laughing drily, Kirito countered, "I just know you too well."

Whining at the evasion, Asuna reached up and nipped at the skin of Kirito's exposed neck, keening, "Please? Will you pleeease tell me?"

Gasping in shock, Kirito arched his back, accidentally making a much lower part of their bodies grind together in such a way that Asuna had to grit her teeth to maintain her composure. Keeping up the act, Asuna giggled and began leaving wet sucks and kisses on her partner's neck, humming appreciatively at the taste. "I just want you to share with me," Asuna pouted, staring up at Kirito.

The teen gave one look at her, and turned bright red.

"I have to go shower!" he suddenly shouted before slithering from under the blankets and bolting into the bathroom.

Growling in frustration, Asuna crossed her arms in defeat and stared hard at the bed covers. _He can be so stubborn sometimes._

And then the sun rose high enough to beam in through the window, making her smile at its presence.

_Well, that is why I love him._

Later that afternoon, the couple was taking a slow, leisurely walk through the nearby forest. The birds were chirping and the sun streamed downwards from the canopy of leaves above, and as cliche as the surroundings were, Kirito couldn't have been more content. Sure, there was the occasional Leaf Biter, a weak monster that could only cause paralysis, but on the whole there was virtually no danger to be aware of. And that meant he could just hold Asuna close and take a nice walk through the woods.

"Kirito," Asuna sang out softly, trying to shake her mate out of his deep thoughts. "Kirito!"

"Huh?" he said, startled.

Snorting Asuna lightly elbowed him in the side. "You're so absent minded sometimes."

He smiled down at her. "I guess being relaxed is unhealthy for me."

Asuna smiled that wolfish grin again, the one that made his heartbeat spike for just a moment, because it usually meant that something unexpected or mind blowing was about to follow.

Letting go of his hand, Asuna placed both arms behind her back and smiled wider, showing off her canines as she bent at the waist to give him a suggestive look as Kirito backed up a step, wary now of his partner's intentions. Asuna only mirrored him though, stepping closer when Kirito retreated, still bending at the waist to offer a rather...impressive view of her cleavage, which he had not noticed before (or at least tried not to look to conspicuously).

Humming in what was really a fake attempt at deep thought, Asuna reached and trailed a finger along Kirito's collarbone and down his sternum, eyelids drooping slightly as she managed to back him up against a tree, effectively trapping the male. Smirking in triumph, Asuna advanced until their pelvises could nestle firmly together and tangled her fingers in his hair, making Kirito's eyes go wide in surprise. Licking her lips ever so slightly (although the gesture did no go unnoticed, as evidenced by the dart of Kirito's eyes and the flush in his cheeks), she let her neck fall and lightly nipped at the man's collarbone.

Kirito drew in a sharp intake of breath at that one, hands reaching back to grip helplessly at the bark of the tree he was pinned against, knees threatening to go weak at his partner's ministrations. In his two years in the world of SAO, he had fought demons, skeletons, wild boars, living carnivorous plants, raging mythical bulls, and much more. It seemed almost absurd that a simple pair of lips and a questing tongue could undo him so thoroughly. And _enjoyably._

Asuna's thoughts were running along the same tracks as well. To think that the proud Black Swordsman, the high level beta tester extraordinaire who soloed the front lines, was privately completely inexperienced when it came to..._intimate_ situations. Asuna was fully aware that Kirito was superior to nearly everyone when it came to combat (even her, despite her objections to the contrary) and it pleased her to know that there was some way she could exercise dominance over the male. To further emphasize this point, Asuna left Kirito's collarbone alone long enough to run her nose up the line of his jaw and close her lips around the lobe of his ear.

A deep, rumbling sound came from her partner at that one, and Asuna could identify it to be a moan. The realization set off a fire in the pit of her stomach and brought attention to the fact that she was just as nervous as Kirito. She just didn't show it. Asuna was acting like the experienced one in this particular situation, but truth be told she was following examples from her friends in the real world and the few raunchy books she'd read in her lifetime. Not to mention a certain number of fantasies she entertained during her long nights alone, but that wasn't important...

Just at that moment, Kirito's legs lost their resolve and he had to take a step back to maintain his balance. Just as his foot made contact with the grass, a startled Leaf Biter exploded from underneath the earth and sank its paralysis venom coated teeth into the first thing available; Kirito's rear.

The male swore as the miniature monster hissed at him and scurried away, its petite form disappearing into the taller grass nearby. Asuna could only stare in shock as Kirito's legs gave out from under him, causing him to fall to the ground. Luckily enough, he landed with his back still to the tree, legs splayed out before him as he lay there, thoroughly paralyzed by the Leaf Biter.

There was a terrifying silence for just a moment as Asuna continued staring incredulously at her mate.

Then laughter.

Glorious, sweet laughter.

"What's so funny?" Kirito growled as Asuna threw her head back and laughed at the heavens, assuming Aincrad had any. After recovering somewhat from her fit, Asuna wiped tears of mirth form her eyes and cried out, "It's just...you! Only you would get into a situation like this...paralyzed by a Leaf Biter! Ha!" Asuna slapped her knees and fell to the floor herself, clutching her legs to her chest and rolling about in bacchanalia. Kirito could just watch in horror, trying to comprehend the situation.

A minute passed, though, and Asuna managed to calm herself down considerably. Rubbing at her face and squashing her cheeks, she continued, "Well, well, what should we do with you now? You seem to be completely at my mercy."

"You have some healing crystals on you, don't you?" Kirito hissed in frustration, trying in vain to move. The paralysis was temporary, but still strong. Asuna just smirked at him.

"I do, but that doesn't mean I have to use them."

"What!?"

"You were very bad this morning," Asuna steamrolled on, ignoring her husband's objections. "You neglected to share your feelings with me. Is that not the duty between husband and wife?" The last syllable was accompanied with a teasing glare at the immobilized male. Kirito just tensed up further in anticipation of Asuna's plans.

"What are you going to do to me?"

"My my, you don't have to sound so scared," Asuna scolded, crawling over to him on all fours and bringing their faces close once more. "After all...I've become quite attached to you, you know. It wouldn't do to end your life so soon."

Kirito just sent her a lazy glance. "How generous of you."

"Don't be so sarcastic! I'm like the queen ant giving offspring to the male, am I not?"

"That male works because he has no choice."

Asuna snorted and promptly sat down on her mate's lap, straddling him. Kirito's eyes went wide. "Don't be so glib."

"Then I pose my question again," Kirito insisted, still managing to stay calm in the face of womanly wrath. "What are you going to do to me?"

Moving suddenly, Asuna rocked her hips forward so that their pelvises were pressed tightly against each other, hands coming around to push the hair away from Kirito's ears and eyes. The younger male's composure absolutely crumbled at this, and a steady flush dominated his face. "A-Asuna..."

"I'm going to teach you to share your feelings with me," she almost hissed into his ear before dragging a wet tongue down its outside edge.

"Sweet lord above," Kirito instinctively cried out as the girl's nimble tongue went to work, almost bathing his ear as lips joined in to suckle and nip and kiss, causing a rising pressure to build in his chest that was becoming quickly uncontrollable. And the worst part of it was, he realized, that he couldn't move to retain his sanity or at least ravish his partner in a similar manner, although Kirito doubted his sense of courtesy would allow such a thing. This woman was already destroying the image of "innocent Asuna" he'd retained for such a long time; she was sucking on his _ears_, for gosh sakes.

"Ooh," Asuna cooed, whispering. "You're sensitive here, aren't you?" As erotic as the words sounded, Asuna wasn't trying to be particularly seductive. Nay, the simple act of pleasuring her love had caused a thick fog to shroud her mind, and Asuna allowed this to control her to some extent. And it was working, despite her misgivings.

"Asuna..." Kirito stuttered, gritting his teeth as he once again tried to fulfill his urge to get at her, but found himself restrained. The girl could only laugh huskily at his struggles, abandoning Kirito's sensitive ears (despite his whimpers) to take his lower lip between her teeth and look up at him with wide eyes.

"Yes?"

A smirk suddenly dominated Kirito's face, and Asuna went cold.

"Look behind you," the male said slyly, tongue reaching out just enough to lap at his partner's lips.

Asuna whipped around just in time to see a startled Leaf Biter lunge and sink its fangs into her ass, injecting its paralyzing venom before scurrying off into the brush. Asuna shrieked and flailed about as her legs failed her, and she fell backwards onto the grass beside Kirito.

_Several hours later..._

"This is all your fault," Kirito sighed blandly as he continued staring up at the trees.

"My fault?" Asuna said, incredulous. "You're the one who got bitten first."

"It wouldn't have happened if you hadn't pulled that stunt with my ear."

"It was not a _stunt._ It was a coldly calculated move."

"Right..."

Sigh... "Anyways, we're both paralyzed and stuck out here with no one near by to help us. So...any ideas?"

Kirito snorted into his collar. "Don't ask me. I'm the one who's supposed to charge into dangerous situations without thinking, remember?"

Groaning from the urge to facepalm, Asuna said, "Why do you understand that now, of all times?"

"Who knows?"

"I am going to kill you for this," Asuna said in a decisive manner.

"Oh? This isn't nearly as bad as that _other_ time, and you hardly came close to harming me."

"That was because Kuradeel was right behind me! Besides, I was trying to protect my _breasts_ from a rather questing _male,_ if I recall accurately.

"_Questing? _I was not questing. I was confused because somebody abruptly teleported on top of me. So we could say that you were the one indirectly questing."

"Pfft. Whatever."

Kirito let out a genuine laugh. "Don't you dare whatever me. It's the duty between husband and wife to share feelings."

Asuna sighed. "When did you become so sharp witted with your words?"

"Why, I was always like this, love," Kirito snorted.

"Yeah, right. You weren't so eloquent when I knocked you across the courtyard for violating me."

"Are you trying to say you don't like it when I touch you?"

Asuna sent a startled glance at her husband, who returned with a smirk. "Very well, then. From now on I will be strictly appropriate. I will no longer touch you in any suggestive ways or even share the same bed, since that could be considered "naughty." Are these conditions acceptable?"

"What!" Asuna spluttered. "I never said-"

"Ah, ah," Kirito tutted, chuckling now. "You really need to think these things through, you know?"

And the trees rustled their branches in agitation at the curses Asuna threw at her mate.

* * *

**Please review! It's good for the soul ;)**


	2. (September 5th, 2024)

**New chapter! Review for more!**

* * *

**Chapter 2 - Nyan Nyan (September 5th, 2024)**

**This chapter takes place between episodes 7 and 8**

Floor 50 - Algade

"What are these?" Kirito inquired as Agil let yet another box down on the table before them.

"Just got a new shipment of things to sell," the burly man threw over his shoulder as he went to retrieve more of his stuff. "I heard there were some rare items in the order this time and I wanted to check it out before I put it on the market."

"Rare items, eh?" Kirito muttered to himself, eyeing the sealed containers. He was sitting at a small table in Agil's store on the 50th floor. He'd decided to drop by for a chat after a long day on the front lines, although the sun was still high in the sky at this point. He'd left early in the morning, after all.

Agil returned with the last box and set it down on the table with the others. Conjuring a wedge from his inventory, the merchant braced it against the nearest container and forced the lid off. Kirito got off his seat so he could lean over and watch. Agil reached his hand into the container's depths and retracted it, now holding several little globes.

"What are those?" Kirito asked.

"Hmm," the man mused, staring at the strange items. "These must be the rare merchandise. It's an R-Class item," he added in surprise.

"Alright, but what does it do?" Kirito insisted impatiently, staring at the orbs.

Agil tapped the items and brought up the description on them. "They're called 'Mystery Orbs,'" he began. "Apparently if you break one open at an opponent's feet, a random spell will be cast upon him. All the possible spells are generally unfavorable to the person affected, although some may be only minor, like a horrible coughing fit or some dizziness. Of course, there's also paralysis, poisoning, freezing, burning and a variety of other possibilities."

"Sounds interesting," the Black Swordsman drawled slowly as he rubbed at his eyes. He hadn't slept well the night before.

"Yeah," Agil snorted, noting companion's lethargy. "Well, I'm gonna go put these away now. Wouldn't want you turning into a dog, now would we? Considering your antisocial streak."

"Yeah, yeah."

Kirito crossed his arms on the table and rested his head on them, closing his eyes and reveling in the comfort the ceiling fan provided above him. Sure, Aincrad was basically a massive combat simulator, but it also had tons of real life mechanics mixed in with it. And that included the need to sleep.

_I wonder what Asuna's up to,_ he mulled thoughtlessly. Despite his objections to the contrary, Kirito did not have many friends both in game and out, thus often leaving him trying to check in on the activities of the companions he _did_ have. Despite being the vice commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath, the girl was constantly badgering him to join her in a party. It was an "insult to her pride as a superior woman,"according to her, not that Kirito really understood what gender had to do with who you went to the front lines with. In the end, he always said that playing solo was better because he didn't have to worry about other people. Like Sachi, although Kirito had never deigned to mention her.

Kirito was rudely interrupted from his thoughts when a bell chimed to his right. Turning his head, he saw the front entrance to Agil's shop swing open as a certain player stepped in. Asuna.

"Agil? Are you selling right now?" the girl called out when she noticed the shop keeper's absence from the front desk. Then turning, she noticed Kirito and raised an eyebrow. "Good morning."

"Mornin', Asuna," Kirito droned, still fighting off morning laziness. "Wazzup?"

Asuna snorted, crossing her arms. "What's gotten into you?"

"Tired."

"Oh. Been at the front lines?"

"Mhmm..."

Asuna looked down at her nails, casually inspecting them (although they always looked the same, thanks to the game's character building algorithms). "You know, if you were smart enough to party with someone you wouldn't have to work so hard. Or be so tired."

Kirito groaned and arched his back, lifting his head off the table in order to stack his hands behind it. "There you go again! I'm telling you, I won't party with anybody, even the Vice Commander."

"And why not?" Asuna demanded, forsaking her casual facade in order to place both hands on her hips. "Only so many people are even close to the level you are, and one of them's looking right at you. I'm telling you, it'll keep you from getting killed. Besides, it's an insult to my pride as a woman."

"Like I haven't heard that one before."

"Excuse me?"

"Could you two lovebirds please keep it down?" came Agil's gruff voice as he returned from his duties. "Seriously, it's ruining the whole shop keeper atmosphere."

Asuna turned a noticeable shade of read. "Lovebirds! Don't be ridiculous. Kirito's just being his usual stubborn self."

"Well, I don't know, Miss Asuna," Kirito returned mockingly as he stood up and walked over to her. "You seem unusually worried for my safety as of late. Care to explain? Or perhaps," he gasped, slapping both hands to his face in mock shock, "It's a secret too terrible to tell?"

There went the last of Asuna's patience. "Shut up!" she roared, lunging for him. Kirito easily dodged the attack though, and her momentum sent her crashing into the front desk and sending the second box of Mystery Orbs careening. Agil let out a choked sound as one of his precious R-Class items slipped out of the box and crashed to the floor, sending a cloud of pink mist gushing outwards.

Kirito immediately coughed when the substance entered his nostrils and backed away, putting distance between himself and the iridescent cloud that had engulfed his friend. There was no telling what effect the magic would have on a person. Speaking of Asuna...

He and Agil could only watched as the cloud began to dissipate, steadily clearing out until Asuna's form was fully visible to them. She sat with her legs tucked underneath her, facing away from them, both hands on her head. At first glance she appeared to be quite unaffected by the magic, until Kirito's gaze slipped (quite shamefully) towards Asuna's rear.

"A-Asuna," Agil gasped, pointing with a shaking finger. "Is that..."

"What is what, nyan?" the Vice Commander demanded, turning around to face them with an indignant expression.

What Kirito saw both stunned him and gave birth to a new fetish.

"What are you two staring at, nyan?" Asuna demanded once more, and then she noticed the differences in her speech. "What the heck nyan?" she said, a look of panic flashing across her face. "What I talk (nyan) normally? (nyan)"

"A-As-Asuna," Kirito spluttered, pointing along with Agil. "Your head..."

"My head, nyan?" Asuna echoed, reaching up quickly to feel the pair of enlarged cat ears sitting on the crown of her skull.

An ear shattering scream could be heard from the shop across from Agil's.

"Ears, nyan!" Asuna screeched, gripping the invasive things to the point of pain, proving that the structures did, indeed, have nerves. Nerves that would attached to her brain.

"Don't worry, Asuna!" Agil stuttered, sounding quite worried himself. "The magic will wear off eventually. "It seems like a very simple animal embodiment spell. You'll just experience some of the traits and habits of a random creature. Just wait a little and you should be fine!"

Asuna began taking very deep breaths in quick succession, trying to calm herself down. It worked, to some degree. "Alright," she said finally. "I'm okay, nyan." Then she proceeded to draw up a chair and attempt to sit in it.

Another deafening scream.

"I have a _tail_ too?!" Asuna screeched, grabbing the waving thing gripping her rear and pulling it around to strangle the damned thing. "What next, nyan? Am I going to start craving a meal of fish? This is ridiculous! Nyan!"

Suddenly, a gloved hand pulled Asuna's away from her tail. She looked up and saw Kirito, who was barely restraining a smile.

"Just calm down," the swordsman said levelly. "Agil said the magic will dissipate soon. Just sit down and wait. There isn't anything else you can do, so there's no point in panicking. Over something so..." Kirito seemed to weigh the risk of saying what he was thinking at the moment. "Panicking over something so cute, too. It's immature."

A deep blush immediately dominated Asuna's entire face. "Cute, nyan?" she asked meekly in a rare moment of shyness.

Kirito managed to keep her smile back long enough to nod once in reassurance. "Sure! It's not like cuteness is a bad thing. So just be patient."

"O-Okay, nyan," Asuna said softly, looking away and trying in vain to temper the heat in her cheeks. Meanwhile, Agil sighed.

"I'm gonna go put the rest of these Orbs away," the shopkeeper announced. Then without further ado he picked up the box and disappeared into the back.

Kirito took a seat opposite Asuna, leaned his head back, and promptly went to sleep.

Asuna was left to mull over her tail, slowly batting it side to side with her hands as if they were paws. _This is absolutely insane,_ she thought. _Who was the guy who came up with this spell when they were building the game? Some man with a weird fetish, I'd bet. And my ears are so sensitive now, too...and my stupid tail won't stop waving around. Maybe it's for balance? But I don't have for legs! And Kirito...cute, of all the adjectives to use! I've never met anyone else who can throw me off like that...it's irritating, really..._

Her thoughts were cut off when a sudden priority surfaced.

Asuna shot a looked at Kirito's sleeping face, and decided she couldn't fight her instincts.

"Hey, Kirito, nyan," Asuna called out, prodding him in the arm.

"Eh?" the swordsman muttered, cracking open an eye to look at her.

Asuna blushed and unconsciously played with her tail. "You know what I said, nyan, about craving fish earlier?"

"Yes."

The Vice Commander's flush deepened. "Do you think Agil...happens to have any?"

That woke Kirito up.

"What? You're craving fish?!" he exclaimed, placing both hands on the desk and leaning over.

"Well there's no need to make such a big deal about it!" Asuna shouted in her defense. "Humans eat them too, nyan!"

"Well yeah, but..." Kirito sat back, crossing his arms in deep thought. "It's still a little strange."

"This entire afternoon has been strange, nyan."

"No, I think it's just you."

"Nyan, Shut up."

"Well, in any case," Kirito huffed, crossing his arms, "I'm not gonna go rummaging through Agil's storage to find some dry fish for you. You'll have to suppress your feline cravings until you've turned back."

Asuna wanted to yell at him for being so stubborn, but her own pride prevented it. If he was going to be difficult, so would she! She didn't need any fish...she was disciplined. She wouldn't be affected.

Asuna's reasonings were promptly demolished, however, when her stomach grumbled at its denial and roiled around in agitation. Fish. Fish, _fish. _Despite not having eaten many of them since she'd first entered Aincrad, Asuna could clearly picture the things in her mind's eye. Flesh cooked to perfection, just the right amount of steam rising from the deliciously charred outer skin that was so fun to play with...

The Vice Commander let out a little whimper inside when the last of her fortitude fell.

Glancing over at Kirito, she thought about her options. There was no way she would go rooting through the shop's stuff for fish; she would't stoop that low, and she wasn't going to risk any more complications with her body popping up. That meant Kirito would have to do it for her, but he'd already refused her. Asuna thought of ways to convince the hard headed teenager. _He won't listen to reason,_ she mused, ears twitching unconsciously, drawing Kirito's attention to them. _So that means..._ she blushed. There weren't many things that fazed Asuna after having cleared nearly eighty floors, but she'd never done anything like this before. She almost considered enduring, but her stomach promptly turned over and negated that possibility. Sighing, Asuna turned her head and said, "Kirito?"

"Wh-what?" the solo player exclaimed, too entranced by the slight twitching of his companion's ears. Cute and fluffy... "Yes?"

Putting up her facade, Asuna smirked, allowing her eyes to droop halfway closed. Getting up off the chair, she stalked her way over to Kirito's chair and bent at the waist so she could look him right in the eyes. The beater could only grip the side of the chair and watch with a rapid heartbeat, absolutely confused as to what was going on. Changing her expression, Asuna let her lower lip pop out in a whiny pout, eyes fixated on the ground.

"Are you sure you couldn't...help me out, nyan?" Asuna whispered, reaching up to casually run a thumb along the edge of her feline ear. Kirito's eyes darted above her head for a split second, his blush deepening even further. Opening his mouth in a hopeless attempt to answer coherently, he choked out, "A-Asuna?"

Asuna gave him the doe eyes. "Nyan, I would really like some fish, Kirito-kun," she sighed softly, letting her tail swish side to side. Asuna punctuated the last couple syllables by reaching out a lightly tracing her finger along his collarbone.

That sent Kirito's ears totally aflame, and he shouted, "Okay!" and slithered out from under Asuna's grip before charging into the back of the store.

Standing back up, Asuna smirked again and flipped her hair.

_Men,_ she thought as she checked her tail for split ends.

* * *

**Please review!**


	3. (July 15th, 2024)

**Third chapter up! I know I said this was supposed to be humorous and romantic, but I want to throw some feels at you guys once in I while. If you like what you read, please review!**

* * *

Chapter 3: Sleeping Beauty

The world around a person is a very malleable entity. It can be shaped into several differing forms, from wide and unconquerable to small and simple. Sometimes, in times of despair, the universe feels like a vast plain without a map; impossible to navigate, barren, desolate, and cold. Then again, sometimes the existence around us is small, and tight and warm. Accommodating. Heavenly, even.

Right now, Kirito was trying his best to constrict his world as much as possible.

It was a beautiful day in Aincrad. Kirito had never visited the States in the real world, but he knew enough to be able to say that the weather was "Californian." It was the peak of the spring, according to the weather simulation database, and that meant the plants in the towns and even the dungeons were in full bloom; it also meant that the grass was lush, thick and comfortable to lie on as he tried to fall asleep, ignoring the world.

The tree he lay under extended its branches just far enough to shield his closed eyes from the sun. The leaves hung from the bark like hair, or perhaps a pair of arms embracing him as he dozed.

Accommodating.

_Asuna would never understand something humane like this,_ Kirito thought absently, remembering his earlier quarrel with the Vice Commander over how to engage the latest floor boss.

_Well, whatever,_ he dismissed simply, adjusting his position just slightly. He didn't want to think about that right now. Kirito just wanted to enjoy the sun, the slight breeze through the grass...

"What do you think you're doing?"

Speak of the devil.

He didn't even have to open his eyes to know who was reprimanding him. Letting out a strained yawn, Kirito sighed, "Sleeping. Relaxing. What of it?"

Once again, Kirito didn't need vision to know that Asuna had put her hands on her hips in unwarranted exasperation. "The next floor boss is coming up! You can't afford to lay around like a bum like this. Get up."

Kirito let out a small _tch_ and turned his head away from her. Asuna's fists curled in on themselves.

Suddenly, Asuna heard a platoon of players walking by, all dressed in formal army armor. "Look at them, just wasting the time away," they whispered as they passed them by. Frustrated by their perception of her, Asuna snapped again, "So will you get up, or what?"

Sighing, Kirito muttered, "You need to relax a little. Just feel the weather for a second...isn't it nice?"

As if on cue, the breeze chuckled at them, caressing Asuna's skin in an almost soothing way. Fighting off the wave of relaxation that threatened to take her over, the Vice Commander remained silent.

"Listen to the wind," Kirito continued, hands still behind his head as he half dozed, half conversed with her. "It ruffles the grass and relaxes you. The sun is at the perfect temperature. Today is the best day in the best season in Aincrad. Enjoy it a little."

Feeling her anger dying down (unfortunately enough), Asuna said softly, "But what about our real bodies? In the real world. We have to get back as soon as possible-"

"Yet we're alive here, now, in Aincrad," Kirito interrupted, sounding almost bored. "Might as well enjoy 'life' here while we can. It beats being killed on the front lines, doesn't it?"

Asuna, slightly struck by the depth of Kirito's words, remained silent.

* * *

_I wonder how my sister is doing,_ Kirito thought, pleased enough by Asuna's silence to ignore her. _I wonder if she's taking care of herself. I know she's independent...but maybe there's something she can't do herself that I don't know about. Maybe I should have gotten to know her better. I shouldn't have shut myself off from her and my foster parents...if I hadn't, I probably wouldn't be stuck in this death game right now. Wouldn't be fighting on the front lines and risking death. Wouldn't have to argue with Asuna all the time. Wouldn't be able to lie under a tree and enjoy the day...wouldn't be able to enjoy the breeze...wouldn't have known what my faults towards my family were._

"I don't know if getting stuck in this place has been a blessing or a curse," Kirito muttered silently.

In due time, the sun set on the town, escaping the coverage the tree's branches provided and irritating Kirito's eyes. When he opened them, phosphenes danced across his field of vision. _How long did I sleep?_

Picking himself up from the ground, Kirito rubbed at the back of his neck, observing the sunset to his left. _I wonder where Asuna went?_

A light snore from his right answered that question.

Turning in alarm, Kirito was shocked to see the Vice Commander's sleeping form tucked up against the vibrant grass. The girl's hair fanned out behind her in an almost seamless curtain, as if this was one of those stereotypical shampoo commercials. Her eyelashes were long, he suddenly noticed, and they fluttered as Asuna breathed slowly in and out through her nose.

This was the first time, Kirito was surprised to realize, he had seen Asuna as what she was; a girl. Before she'd always been the Vice Commander, his rival, the one who never agreed with him, the rock partnered with the hard place against him. Asuna wasn't one to intentionally show weakness of vulnerability; in fact, she downright denied that either existed in her psyche. Seeing her sleeping form now, though, Kirito thought she looked fragile, delicate. Someone to be protected. It was amazing what sleep did to a person's face. The tight look of determination and anger was gone from Asuna's face. No, there was only exhaustion, a face oblivious to the world, a face that wanted it that way.

For the first time in a week, a tender smile tugged at Kirito's mouth. _I'm such a softie,_ he thought, trying to retain some of his masculinity. Getting up, he walked over to a brick wall a few feet over and sat on it, staring at the sunset.

He would follow what his heart had told him about Asuna.

He would protect her.

* * *

Little did Kirito know, Asuna's expression had been contorted for a while in her sleep; it had only loosened up just before he awoke.

The dream began with her vision's end. What Asuna was indescribable. Just a room. Nothing else to it. A simple room with simple things for a simple room. Imagine it as you'd like to; it wouldn't matter, because it was so mundane. So normal.

Asuna was standing, staring at the plaster that made up the wall. From her position, she could only see the wall before her. Perhaps a corner of the door, the leg of a table, but in general she saw just the wall. She _knew_ there was the rest of a room behind her, but she couldn't turn around for some reason, couldn't turn her head, something was keeping her from-

"Yuu-chan."

That one word, that one verbal exclamation, changed everything. The muscles in Asuna's neck relaxed, and she turned to look.

"It's okay, Yuuki-chan," said Asuna's best friend. That face. Asuna knew that face. But it wasn't there! The girl sitting before her was faceless...yet she knew it was her best friend from the real world. What the hell was this? What was-

"Asuna."

Her thought process was interrupted again when her eyes darted up and rested on the faceless face of her mother. Her father sat beside her. Her grandmother behind them. Her cousin behind her. Her school friends off to the side. All faceless. Yet totally recognizable.

"We love you," the loves of her life all chanted at once.

"We miss you, Asuna."

For the first time in a dream, tears fell from Asuna's eyes.

"...I-I love you too. I'll make it back, I promise..."

"We'll be waiting for you, Asuna. But don't hurt yourself to keep us safe. Do you promise?"

"Yes...yes, I'll promise."

* * *

The sun continued its collision course with the dark horizon as Kirito spectated. The vast, sprawling expanse of the town stretched out before him, making his sigh inwardly. Just hours ago, the world had been but a small bubble. Accommodating, but once he'd awoken he was reminded of just how big, dangerous and demanding the universe really was. Everyone had a role they were meant to play, and those who neglected their duty became the dregs of society.

_Do I fit into that category?_ Kirito mused, the phosphenes multiplying as he closed his eyes and rubbed at them. _I contribute as much as I can to the cause, but I always go solo. Everyone's always bothering me about it, saying it's dangerous...maybe it's because they care. But I always reject them. Maybe that's why people say I'm antisocial. Maybe people wouldn't call me a beater if I was willing to cooperate with others? Although I pretty much sealed my reputation after defeating the first floor boss._

_Maybe I should make some friends._

Kirito was broken out of his reverie when Asuna awoke behind him.

Turning, he saw the girl put her arms beneath her and push herself up from the grass. At first, her expression was confused, as if she didn't remember how she'd gotten there. It brought a crooked smile to Kirito's face.

Asuna saw him then, and it all came back to her.

In a split second, her hand had flown to the hilt of her rapier, causing Kirito to yelp and jump behind the brick wall for cover. Sure, he'd realized that Asuna was a girl, but she was still the Vice Commander for a reason.

The emotions battled their way across Asuna's face for a moment before she ground out,

"One meal."

"...eh?"

"One meal!" Asuna repeated more loudly, a flush dominating her face. "As payment for what you did for me...is that acceptable?"

Kirito, caught off balance by Asuna's sudden change in mood, just let out a sheepish nod.

Well, it seemed like he wouldn't have to protect her _all_ the time.

...Fortunately.

* * *

Suguha fought to keep the tears back as she gripped her cup of coffee. staring hard at the tabletop in order to restrain herself. Before Kirito's story, she had never really understood her cousin's (although she considered him her brother) extreme dedication to a girl he'd met in a video game. This confusion had ultimately resulted in her sitting them both down and demanding Kirito's motives. In response, her brother had told her the story of the tree and the grass ruffled by the breeze.

_To have all that put at risk..._

"Was that...the most important moment between you two?" Suguha sniffed out, still staring at the table.

"No," Kirito replied, sipping from his coffee from across the table. He was a bit more nonchalant than his sister, but he still felt emotional after telling the story. "There's more. There's many many more, Suguha. That's why I visit her every day. Pray for her to wake up. Do you understand now? It's alright if you don't, but-"

"Tell me more."

"What?"

"Tell me more about A-A-Asuna."

Kirito sat back in his chair and sighed, breathing into her cup. "Alright. I'll tell you the story of a time when she came for me, a time where I would have died had she not come..."

* * *

**Please Review!**

**~Shrrg**


	4. Broken Home (Arc 1,Part 1)

**ATTENTION ALL READERS! If you want to understand the chapter below and the ones coming after, I advise you read this! From now on, this story will be composed of a series of "story arcs" which are made up of two to four chapters total. For example, Chapter 4, the first installment of "Story Arc 1" is Part 1 of 3. Therefore, consecutive numbers of chapters will be heavily related to eachother in order to form groups of "mini-stories."**

* * *

**Arc 1:Replacements**

**Part 1**

Chapter 4: Broken Home

The sun was slowly setting over the scenery of Aincrad, its bleeding rays soaking into every last surface in its sparse time before it was swallowed by the horizon. During this transmission period between night and day, the site which marked the portal to and out of the fiftieth floor blazed to life. It was during this time of day that players were either preparing for an excursion under cover of darkness or returning from a long day of leveling, so there weren't any people around the square to note Kirito's arrival. The Black Swordsman let out a brief yawn and stretched as he left the softly glowing halo that served as his link between the floors, stepping off the raised pedestal and making his way into the town.

As he strolled through the cobblestone streets, the lamps on either side of him began flickering to life, a testament to the approaching night. _All the more reason to get home sooner,_ Kirito thought as he quickened his pace. As he moved, he thought about his day on the front lines. The tricky thing about SAO was probably the levels of the monsters you had to face. If you partied with people weaker than you, one was more likely to have simpler adversaries to face, as monster levels were based on the average of the entire party's strength. Unfortunately, Kirito was a solo player of exceedingly high level, and this often resulted in him taking on pseudo-boss type monsters one after the other. True, it dumped a mountain of XP into his avatar, but people tire.

"Evening, Kii-bou."

Kirito stopped in his tracks and raised his gaze from its fixated position on the ground before him, casting about. Finally, he turned to the right and saw Argo leaning against a closed market stall set up by the street.

"Ah, my information broker," Kirito smiled as he walked over to her. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Argo offered him a cat-like grin that was emphasized by her whisker face paint. "There's always something you can help me with, Kii-bou. It starts with a K and ends with an L."

Sighing in exasperation, Kirito ran his fingers through his unruly hair and said, "As much as I'd like to know where the next boss dungeon is, I don't have an unlimited supply of kol."

Argo gasped at this, feigning surprise. "You? Broke? Ha, I doubt it. You're probably being stingy instead. Besides, you used to come to me every day for more and more information. You came to me so often I was worried I wouldn't have anything left to tell you! What happened to that?"

Blinking, Kirito gestured vaguely to his side to indicate his currently invisible inventory and replied, "I made a pretty hefty purchase a little while ago."

He regretted answering Argo's question the second he did. Eyes narrowing in acute interest, The Rat said slyly, "Hefty purchase, eh? Mind telling me what it is?"

Smirking, Kirito lightly nudged her forehead with his thumb, irritating the smaller player. "None of your business, I'm afraid. In any case, I've got to go, so-"

"I can tell you where to find five million kol," Argo's smooth voice said, cutting him off.

There was a momentary silence as Kirito tried to wrap his mind around that figure.

"_What?_" He hissed suddenly, leaning in close to keep their conversation more exclusive.

Chuckling like a fisherman who had just reeled one in, Argo said, "I'm afraid the information comes with a price," to which Kirito almost pouted. Laughing now, she assured him, "Don't worry! The information in reliable. Besides, what's a hundred thousand kol for info when you could have five million? The rewards far outweigh the losses."

Standing back up to his full height, Kirito put a hand to his chin and seemed to ponder her words. Then he said, "Alright, Argo, I'll pay. Now tell me-"

Kirito was interrupted yet again when his HUD buzzed.

"Hold on, I have a message," he told Argo before pulling up his inbox. Scrolling through his different contacts, he realized that it was Asuna. Tapping on the envelope symbol which hovered before him, he brought up the message.

_Are you busy?_

Sighing, Kirito summoned the virtual keyboard needed to type in his reply. _It's probably information on the next boss,_ he thought. _Why else would she call me out so bluntly?_

_No, not particularly, _Kirito typed. Meanwhile, Argo crossed her arms in exasperation and tapped her foot impatiently. He tried his best to ignore her. It wasn't wise to leave someone like Asuna hanging.

_Good, then get over here right now. _Came the reply. Typing deftly, Kirito sent,

_Where is "here?" And what for? New boss?_

There was a ten second gap in the chat before Asuna replied.

_Um, well...not exactly. I need help with something._

_Like what?_

_I can tell you later! Just get over here right now!_

_But I'm doing something._

_So you lied to me._

_I guess..._

_Argh...whatever, just please, can you come here? And fast, too, there isn't much time..._

Rolling his eyes, Kirito glanced over at Argo, who glared at him. "Sorry," he said. "Asuna's being a bother."

His inbox buzzed again.

_Please?_

Kirito was about to resume his explanation to Argo when the last message dropped in.

_I'm begging you._

That really threw Kirito off. Asuna, the Lightning Flash, begging for help? This was either an elaborate prank or some serious business. Thinking quickly, he asked Argo, "Is there a time limit on this five million kol you mentioned?"

Fuming, the information broker snapped, "Of course! Why do you think I'm telling you at this time of day? You have until midnight to clear the dungeon and claim your prize, or it'll disappear and reappear in another randomized location. I spent weeks trying to figure out where it would land tonight, I came to you first with the info! Have you no gratitude?"

Groaning, Kirito shut his eyes and tried to think. _Five million kol...or Asuna? _The logistic in him urged to follow Argo to whatever dungeon she spoke of, but there was also this nagging feeling in the back of his head (and his chest, too) that he should go help the Vice Commander instead. Kirito was in the middle of torturing himself to make a choice when he glanced back at his recent chat.

_I'm begging you._

The nice guy in him overtook the analyst at that. Sighing, Kirito straightened up and told Argo, "I'm really sorry, but I don't think I can go looking for it tonight. I appreciate that you came to me first though, and I promise to make it up to you. I'll take you out for lunch tomorrow, alright? Well, I gotta go now, so..." Kirito took advantage of Argo's stunned silence to slip away and turn the corner.

Once he'd gone, Argo growled in anger and punched the wall. _He has no idea how many people I disappointed for him,_ she thought.

Meanwhile, Kirito was chatting as he walked.

_Where are you?_

_In front of my house..._

Ten minutes later, Kirito reached his destination.

Turning the corner, he called out, "Asuna-" but was abruptly silenced when he saw what lay before him.

Where once had been Asuna's four-million kol house now stood a massive pile of rubble. A mountain of wooden beams, plates of metal and a multitude of charred, destroyed personal possessions were scattered everywhere. A thin veil of smoke hung over the entire wreckage, but the area immediately around the house was surprisingly untouched, assuming it was an explosion that had taken place. If he'd had the time to think, Kirito would probably have attributed it to the game's durability system, but there was no time for that now. Falling into a full sprint, Kirito charged up to what was left of the house and immediately commenced digging through the rubble, shouting Asuna's name as he did so. Splinters from the burnt wood bit into his fingers and soot covered his clothes, but he paid no attention to that.

"Asuna," he said, digging deeper. "Asuna!"

"I'm over here," said a rather peeved voice.

Whipping around, Kirito saw Asuna standing with her arms crossed behind him. Jaw dropping, he looked back at the wreckage and stuttered, "B-But I thought-"

Rolling her eyes, Asuna snorted "Do you really think I would have been capable of messaging you if I was under all of that?"

This struck Kirito as oddly logical, and he gave it some thought. "Oh," was all he could come up with afterwards.

Shaking her head and letting out another peeved sigh, Asuna walked over to him and grabbed his hands before he could react, examining them. "You have splinters all over your fingers," she remarked, her voice still carrying a tone of chastisement, it was underscored by an affectionate sound. Pulling out a small vial from her inventory, Asuna sprinkled the stuff over his wounds and they both watched his hand fully heal of the splinters. Blushing at both his mistake and his physical contact with her, Kirito said, "Thanks...I owe you."

"I'm glad you said that," Asuna said, raising her chin to regard him. "Because I need your help."

Turning to look back at the house's carcass, Kirito commented, "No shit. How did this even happen, anyway?"

Now it was Asuna's turn to blush. Speaking much too quickly, she burst out, "Well you see, I got tagged by a Grove Witch, and she left a spell on me that would explode once I returned to my house and-"

"Asuna," Kirito smiled, placing a finger to the Vice Commander's lips. "Tell me the truth."

There was a silent moment where Asuna's blush tripled, and her soft lips moved sensuously beneath his finger. It was oddly tantalizing, Kirito thought absently, watching their movement, in a trance.

Asuna bit his finger.

As Kirito yowled in pain on the floor, Asuna crossed her arms and ground out, "I was cooking, and...I made a mistake."

Eyes watering in pain, Kirito spared her a glance and choked out, "You? I thought you were the best cook in Aincrad."

"Well, I'm working on maxing the skill, but I'm not quite there yet," Asuna replied firmly. "I was trying to make something _really_ spicy but I accidentally dropped the dynamite chili into the fire, and _of course_ the game's algorithm translated that into a big explosion." She paused to brush imaginary dust off her clothes, which was her home outfit, Kirito now noticed. She wasn't sporting her usual Knights of the Blood garb. "I lost half my HP in the blast, too! And this house cost four million kol! Do you have any idea how much that is? Four million! With six zeros! And a four! It's going to take an _eternity_ to earn back all that cash, and-"

"Asuna."

"What?"

"I know a way to earn all that back, and more," Kirito said, thinking of his earlier conversation with Argo.

That really got Asuna's attention. Darting forward, she grabbed Kirito by his collar and almost yelled, "How!? Tell me!"

"Alright, alright! Calm down," Kirito insisted, forcing a little distance between them. Just then, a message appeared on his HUD. Quirking an eyebrow, he opened it.

It was from Argo.

_Dear Ki-bou,_

_I have no idea why I'm telling you this when you essentially ditched me for Asuna, but nobody else is really in the mood to make a ton of money, so here I am._

_If you really can't go after the kol tonight, the next respawn point will be tomorrow morning and eleven, in a dungeon only four quadrants from the town you're in right now. It's a lot closer than the one it's currently in, and you'll have time to prepare, so that should give you the advantage._

_Oh, and don't spend all of it at once. I get twenty percent._

"Tomorrow, and eleven, a secret chest will spawn inside a dungeon just four quads from here," Kirito answered Asuna. "Argo told me about it just now. We can go after it tomorrow and use the money to rebuild your house. The chest holds five million kol, so it should be more than enough."

Asuna's eyes went wide. "_Five?_"

"Yeah."

"As in, the number after four?"

"I'm not answering that."

Giggling at her own joke, Asuna smiled at him. Smiling back a bit sheepishly, Kirito continued, "Anyways, since you don't have a home anymore, you can spend the night at mine."

Asuna looked at him. "You bought a house?"

"Yeah. Just for a million kol, nothing special really, but it can fit the both of us just fine. It's close, so it won't take long to get there."

There was a brief silence as Asuna considered this, and then just blushed out of nowhere. "You have...more than one bed, right?" she asked him, looking up at Kirito with wide, adorable eyes.

Ears flaming red at the question, Kirito stammered, "Uh...yeah, I'm pretty sure..."

"Oh," Asuna said, almost too softly to hear. Then: "You wouldn't...try anything on me while I'm sleeping, would you Ki-kun?"

Snorting, Kirito said, "No, of course not-wait, what?"

Innocent blush turning into demented grin, Asuna smirked at him and said, "What's the matter, Ki-kun? Don't you like your new nickname?"

Blushing furiously, Kirito shouted, "Where the hell did that even come from!"

Laughing now, Asuna cackled, "Nowhere really..._Ki-kun."_

"That's it, you're sleeping on the couch."

"No, wait, I was just kidding!"

"Too late! See ya!"

"Wait, hold on! Kirito-kun!"

_Later that night_

"This is your house?" Asuna asked in wonder.

During the short walk towards Kirito's new abode, the night had fallen upon Aincrad. One by one, the stars were beginning to become visible in the heavens as the sky cleared of clouds and other airborne debris. Before Asuna stood a small, two-story home that seemed to have been made entirely out of wood, though she was sure there were steel ore components built into its infrastructure. From its appearance on the outside, its interior couldn't be too large, and it certain would have been dwarfed by her own home (had it still been in existence). However, knowing Kirito and his solitary habits, she supposed one man didn't need so much space.

"Come on in," Kirito called over his shoulder as he keyed open the door with a passcode and pushed in open.

Asuna followed him in and was pleasantly surprised that she didn't find an impossible mess inside. She'd never figured the Black Swordsman as someone apt at being tidy, but the interior of the house was actually quite..._quaint._ There was a small kitchen with all of the the utensils and pots and pans put away, and a coffee table to accompany it. There was a slightly larger living room with one couch that dominated the entire space. A tight set of stairs led up to the second floor, which was shrouded in darkness and gave off an air of foreboding. Getting straight to the point, Asuna pointed at the offensive staircase and asked, "What's up there?"

"Hm?" Looking up, Kirito saw what she meant and said, "Oh, my armory's up there. I just dumb anything I don't want to carry on the second floor. There isn't really an issue with space, since it's just one big room; I had all the walls broken down. Plus, it beats being over encumbered on the front lines."

"Oh," Asuna said softly. "So what is up there, specifically?"

Smilingly in an almost sad way, Kirito replied, "Things."

Asuna remained oddly silent as Kirito let them to the back end of the first floor.

"This will be your room," he announced as he pushed open a door at the end of a hall. "I'll get the spare bed out of the second floor for you to use. Bathroom's at the entrance to the hallway. My room is right across from yours, so if you need anything over the night just wake me up and I'll help you. You've brought your own clothes in your inventory right?"

Blinking, Asuna nodded.

"Good," Kirito said approvingly. Then he looked her up and down. "Though I wouldn't hate to see you in a shirt that's too big for you."

Kirito chuckled briefly at Asuna's immediate blush and dodged her kick at his shins.

Two hours later, it was around eight o'clock. Asuna sat at Kirito's table by the kitchen, quietly sipping at a cup of tea as she examined a magazine. Surprisingly enough, Kirito had managed to concoct the drink for her without a nuclear explosion going off.

"I've been practicing," Kirito had claimed.

She'd asked him how many time he'd had to rebuild the house while he was "practicing."

Now, though, he sat against the wall in the corner, scrolling lazily through his inventory. Asuna regarded him over the lip of her cup. _I'm never going to understand him completely,_ she realized suddenly, finishing the tea. _I've been around him for this long, and I don't know what drives him. What makes him Kirito, assuming that's his actual name, though it probably isn't. He's usually so dim-witted and headstrong...but sometimes he can look so sensitive and vulnerable...who is he, really?_

_What drives him?_

As Asuna pondered, she continued watching him. Suddenly, something in Kirito's eyes changed. His emotions were shifting, Asuna could at least tell. He'd also stopped scrolling, as if he were staring at a particular object in his possession.

Breaking the silence, Asuna called out, "What's up?"

Kirito blinked and looked up at her.

It began to sprinkle outside.

Asuna shivered. It was cold.

"Just looking through my stuff," came the nonchalant answer, but Asuna felt the tide under the calm. That look in his eyes. They were haunted.

"Is something wrong?" Asuna pressed, getting out of her chair and walking over to sit by him.

Kirito inched away from her, turning in an effort to hide his inventory screen. "It's fine. I'm fine."

"What are you looking at?" Asuna asked, suspicious now. Leaning over, she tried to tap at his menu.

"Leave that alone!"

"No, let me see!"

A short tussle involved Asuna pinning Kirito to the floor in order to break his defense. Reaching out, she tapped the item on the menu Kirito had been examining.

Something materials in front of them, and a stricken expression crossed Kirito's face. It was a recording crystal, and it began playing automatically.

_Merry Christmas, Kirito. If you're hearing this message, then I'm probably dead._

The goofy smiled died right off of Asuna's face.

_If I were still alive, I would have removed this on Christmas Eve and told you my feelings personally...but let me tell you why I'm recording this..._

The message continued to play, and Kirito just watched, the will gone from his bones. Asuna could only listen as well.

_I probably won't survive for long. I'm not doubting you are the rest of our guild, though. I know this because you're strong, Kirito. You see...a close friend of mine died in this game before. It led me to the conclusion that without the will to live, without the will to survive, death will find you. I guess that's why timid people like me never get that far in things like this. But the reason why I recorded this is because I at least wanted to tell you on Christmas Eve. I wanted to at least survive until then, so that we could walk down the street together. I actually knew how strong you were, Kirito. I saw your stat perameters one night when you were sleeping. I never really did understand why you would conceal your true strength and form a guild with us, but I didn't tell the rest of the members because I trusted you to explain to us eventually._

Asuna gasped and put her hands to her mouth. This...what was this? Who was the speaker? How had Kirito obtained this?

...What had happened to him?

_I was so happy when I found out how strong you really were. I could even sleep peacefully as long as I had you by my side. Perhaps to you, I was also significant as well. It gave me hope. Perhaps there would be meaning in me fighting. But even if I do die, I want you to fight on, Kirito. Help me understand the meaning of this world. Look upon it until it is destroyed. Help me...find the meaning in ourselves. That is my wish..._

Almost hyperventilating now, Asuna turned her wide eyes to Kirito and choked out, "Wh-what-"

Kirito's gaze sharpened, and he reached out, crushing the crystal in his hand and pulling it back into his inventory. Asuna flinched at the suddenly violent move. Kirito turned away from her and leaned against the wall, his hair hiding his eyes.

"Kirito-kun..." Asuna whispered softly.

"Don't ask."

"But..."

"Don't ask."

Asuna frowned in disappointment, but then smiled reassuringly. Reaching out, she looped both arms around Kirito from behind and pulled him into a light embrace. "Okay," she sighed softly. "I'll try to forget about it."

Hours later, Asuna lay shivering in her bed. Kirito had placed the spare in her room before retiring himself, but he'd failed to mention that the entire house in general was _freezing._ Sure, it was raining out, but this was unacceptable!

Sitting up, she got off the bed, shivering as her feet touched the cold wood of the floor. _He said I could ask him if I needed anything,_ she remembered, leaving her room and entering the hall.

Afterwards, Asuna crossed the space between their doors and grasped the handle, and turned. The door swung open smoothly and without sound, and Asuna made her entrance.

"Kirito-kun?" she said dumbly when she saw him.

Kirito wasn't sleeping on a bed. Rather, it was several layers of mats that served as a makeshift mattress along with a pillow and a thick blanket. Despite this, the man's form shook underneath the covers. It was pitiful protection against the cold, even compared to her own bed.

Then a thought hit her.

"Ki-kun!" Asuna yelled, startling him out of his sleep.

Spluttering, Kirito glared at her. "What are you doing that for? What's your problem?"

Clenching her fists, Asuna growled, "There wasn't really a spare bed, was there?"

Just then, Kirito noticed that Asuna was in his room.

"Oh," Kirito said dumbly.

"You _idiot!_" Asuna screeched. "Don't treat me like a baby! I can handle myself."

"Alright, alright!" Kirito said, holding his hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry for being considerate."

That brought Asuna's attention to Kirito's own "bed." "And you're freezing like this too," she added, although with less venom in her voice.

Kirito traced a finger along the cold floor. "There isn't much to be done about it, is there?"

Asuna put her hands on her hips for a moment. Then she brightened up. "Follow me," she ordered, grabbing Kirito and yanking him out of his room. Amidst his many complaints, Asuna pulled him across the hall and into her own room, where she closed the door and pushed Kirito onto the bed.

"What are you doing?" he asked, sounding apprehensive.

Asuna rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, pervert," she said. "Nothing's happening in this bed tonight. We're just going to keep each other warm."

Kirito frowned briefly at this, and Asuna was afraid he would leave.

"Okay," he shrugged, getting under the covers.

Sighing, Asuna joined him, although they both scooted to the far ends of their respective sides of the bed. Despite the distance thought, the body heat of two people was beginning to make the bed a warmer place to sleep in. Smiling in content, she allowed herself to snuggled just a bit closer to the middle before closing her eyes.

Kirito, on the other hand, turned around to look at Asuna's back. _I'll never fully understand her,_ he mused, before laying back down and enjoying her warmth.

Yet there were many other things to enjoy, too, and it was driving him insane. Asuna seemed to have fallen asleep already, and Kirito could only be still as the girl unconsciously snuggled very close to him. _I knew this would happen,_ he thought, tensing when Asuna murmured and buried her nose into his back. _But if I knew...does that mean I wanted it?_

His thoughts were interrupted when Asuna sighed peacefully and let her left arms drape around his waste, her leg coming up to half-straddle him as Kirito tried desperately to keep his body under control. Asuna was in her sleeping clothes, and that meant an apparent lack of undergarments, judging from the feeling of her chest being pressed into his back.

Sighing, Kirito felt a bead of sweat go down his face.

He'd forgotten all about that crystal.

* * *

**IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE NOTE AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE, PLEASE DO SO!**

**Please review!**


	5. Looking for a Come Up (Arc 1,Part 2)

**Part 2 of 3 in Story Arc 1**

* * *

Arc 1:Part 2

Chapter 5: Lookin' for a Come Up

Sleep is a wonderful thing in the way being a child is wonderful; you can enjoy yourself and leave everything up to anything else. To Asuna, the advantages of this could be properly appreciated. If you were caught in a death game, you would search for stress relief as often as possible, too.

All good things must end however, and Asuna's consciousness began tickling itself awake as the dawn came and went. Weak rays of sunlight shone through the open window, forcing her to squint behind her eyelids and bury her face deeper into something firm and comforting she was pressed against. _Just a little longer,_ she thought dreamily as she fought to keep herself from the waking world. She tightened her arms around whatever it was she was holding. All she knew was it was warm and accommodating.

Asuna sighed as she rubbed her face against a swath of smooth skin.

...Skin?

Amber eyes flying open, the first thing she saw was the exposed flesh of a long, smooth neck. Eyes flicking upwards in horror, she saw none other than Kirito's sleeping face resting against her forehead. The boy's chest rose and fell slowly as he slumbered, and they were so close to each other that she could feel the languid beating of his heart. Over the course of the night, they seemed to have inverted their positions in favor of facing away from each other. By shifting slightly, Asuna was astonished to find that their legs were hopelessly tangled together, and one of her arms had looped around the boy's shoulders so her fingers could twine loosely in his hair. The entire visual sent her heart on overdrive mode, and the cardiac exertion caused her to sweat profusely. Not to mention that the scent of him was making her head swim, for some reason. _It's probably a spell to confuse his enemies,_ she thought numbly, flailing about for an explanation for her lightheadedness.

Although she couldn't really think of a reason why he would choose the scent of leaves covered in the dew of the morning.

Just then, Kirito murmured something in his sleep. This prompted Asuna to take a moment of her time to look up at her friend's (yes, friend) face. It looked strangely serene when he was asleep. The antisocial tightness that usually dominated his expression was gone, replaced by a peaceful, almost innocent look that totally conflicted with everything she knew about him. _Maybe I don't really know anything about him,_ she thought suddenly. _Maybe he keeps everything locked in, so he can survive._

Her thoughts reminded her of the recording crystal from the day before.

_Merry Christmas, Kirito. If you're hearing this message, then I'm probably dead._

He must have experienced so much during the time they had spent apart from each other, ever since they'd taken down the first floor boss together. When she'd met him again after joining the Knights of Blood, he had looked like a completely different person. Kirito had always carried an aura of determination around him, but over time he'd developed a shell. Apprehensive. Untrusting. What had caused that?

_And despite his antisocial habits, if he makes the effort, Kirito can really get under your skin,_ Asuna mused as she absently drew a slender finger down Kirito's chest. How things could change. When they'd first met, she had been resigned to dying in Aincrad, while Kirito was focused on nothing but breaking out. When they'd reunited, their will to escape the virtual MMORPG had been equal, but the sincerity with which they went about it was completely different. Kirito was a solo on the front lines while Asuna climbed to the spot of Vice Commander. Asuna had always seen appeal in having others to rely on in times of crisis, but Kirito had never been one to allow people to help him out.

_I know he's not egotistical,_ Asuna thought. _So it's not anything like that. He's smart enough to see the value of joining a guild or partying with other players. So why? Why is he so reluctant to have people around him on the front lines? When I met him at the Town of Beginnings, he was so open and willing to help others band together in order to beat the game. He even approached me personally asking if we could party together. Where did that all go?_

_ But even if I do die, I want you to fight on, Kirito._

A deep frown etching itself into Asuna's face, she observed Kirito's sleeping expression one last time. He was only vulnerable in his sleep, and you couldn't even talk to him like that. He really was one tough little nut. She would understand him one day, though. One day, she would know what drove him.

At the moment, however, she really needed to focus on getting out of the current situation. Kirito also had his arms lightly wrapped around her, forming a secure hold on her person that was both deliciously warm and heart-hammeringly terrifying at once. And her best option was, unfortunately, also the riskiest one. It was the only way, though.

Coiling her muscles, she tensed herself for one moment before shouting out loudly and breaking free of the tangled mess that had been their bodies. Almost immediately afterwards, she rolled over and threw herself off the side of the bed, landing with a loud _thud._

Kirito was startled awake almost immediately, and he was so shocked that he got halfway through pulling out his sword from his inventory before realizing where he was. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, Kirito crawled to the edge of the bed and looked over.

"What's up with you?" He asked in a morning voice.

Asuna blushed when her heart began fluttering at the sound of him. Did he sound like that every morning? "I...uh...fell off the bed."

Kirito narrowed his eyes at her for a moment, and Asuna was afraid her lie had been seen through.

But then he smiled sleepily and yawned, "You klutz," before reaching down to pet her.

Asuna's temper flared.

"GET OFF ME!"

_Smack._

Later that morning, Kirito and Asuna were walking side by side along a beaten path which wound through a rather barren landscape; although the town they both lived in on the 50th floor was a bustling hub, surroundings in an open world game tended to change very easily. If the variations in appearance between floor to floor were startling in their contrast, the diversity within the floors themselves was numerous. For example, the flower garden where Silica had revived Pina dominated about half the floor, the other portion consisting of a roiling desert.

But right now, they were walking through the middle of nowhere.

"You don't see a lot of areas like this around here," Asuna voice her thoughts aloud as she glanced about.

Kirito had to agree. Most of the environments of Aincrad at least consisted of some sort of plant life, but there were none here, unless you counted the stunted trees that appeared now and then that looked like they had been struck by lightning. Not to mention that there was only one path that refused to fork, a rarity in itself. The sky above was gray and unforgiving, and a small flock of Scavenger Hawks circled above. Kirito knew that they were only restraining themselves from attacking because of their purpose; if they were to die, the hawks would descend to carry their items away, never to be seen again.

_What a brutal economy,_ he thought, adjusting his collar.

"Where's the dungeon Argo mentioned, anyway?" Asuna asked, squinting her eyes at the horizon.

Stopping in his tracks, Kirito glanced at his minimap and said blandly, "Should be...right below us."

Asuna could only let out a brief "Eh?" before the earth below them erupted.

Screaming, she threw her arms behind her to break her fall; only problem was, the ground itself was breaking, sinking into a massive sinkhole out of which rose...

A massive worm.

Asuna had to slap her palms to her ears when the abomination reared its ugly head back and let out a shriek of anger. The monster was huge, large enough to dwarf even The Gleam Eyes in size. Its entire body was covered in slime, and its tail end was constantly writhing about, kicking up massive clouds of dust behind it. Perhaps its most revolting quality was its head, which consisted of only a gargantuan mouth filled with row upon row of teeth, all gnashing together as one.

Asuna scrambled back as the earth continued to splinter between them, eventually escaping the range of the sinkhole. Kirito, on the other hand, had already jumped far from the point of conflict. The monster's body only rose half out of the hole, but still it towered over them like a building. Its entire body writhing like a snake, the monster, its name displayed as The Vile Worm, roared in fury.

Kirito calmly drew his sword, and charged.

Wasting no time, he leapt, launching himself far into the air. He flew just high enough to slash at the monster's head, stabbing the point of his Elucidator into its fleshy forehead with a squelch. The Vile Worm screeched in pain and whipped its head about, yanking the Black Swordsman's body with it. Kirito just grabbed his sword with both hands and held on, riding out the attempt at dislodging him. Coming to her senses, Asuna hurriedly drew her rapier and prepared to attack.

Finally, the monster depleted its ST stats and was forced to cease its struggling. Taking advantage of the lapse in movement, Kirito pulled his blade out of its flesh only to impale it yet again into the worm's dark red gums.

Blood gushed like a hose from the puncture, and black drops the size of books rained down upon the earth, splattering all around Asuna. The Vile Worm cried out in agony and desperately writhed its body, depleting its stamina even further. Kirito only pulled out his second sword in response, stabbing it into his adversary to form a makeshift saddle. The wind roared around Kirito's head, sending his hair flying every which way as his dark cloak flapped and snapped about from the momentum. Dust was being thrown everywhere, most likely a result of the worm's overactive tail. Pitch black blood had stained the front of his clothes, and the substance was slowly burning through the fabric, damaging its durability.

_I need to end this fight soon,_ Kirito thought.

Soon enough, The Vile Worm had to take another break to boost its ST stats. Utilizing the window of time, Kirito activated a sword skill in both of his blades and slammed them into the monster's forehead. The force of the impact sending its head flying backwards, and Kirito leapt off and landed neatly behind Asuna.

"Switch!" he yelled.

Asuna tightened her grip on her rapier, and charged. They weren't partying together just yet, so it wasn't an official switch, but that really wasn't important at the moment.

The massive worm managed to bring its head back to its proper position, only to have it immediately thrown aside again when Asuna's Lightning Strike sword skill struck its side. Her emerald blade seemed to be everywhere at once; it formed a halo consisting of a multitude of leaping lights that seemed to dance in a furious yet beautiful dance of death. The worm let out an unearthly moan and collapsed, falling on its side and wriggling there. Walking over from behind, Kirito flipped his sword over in his hands before plunging it into The Vile Worm's side, wiping out the very last of its HP.

The monster turned completely white before splintering into a plethora of sparkling polygons. Kirito watched the little shapes float away and out of existence, a blank expression on his face.

"That was a big bug," Asuna commented, cleaning her bloodstained blood with dirt.

"No kidding," Kirito said, turning to face her.

Asuna saw his front and wrinkled her nose. "You're covered in blood! Won't it stain? If you wash it, it might bleed into the rest of your clothes..."

Kirito threw her a confused glance and said, "Bloodstains degenerate over time."

"O-Oh, yeah."

"Klutz."

"Don't pet me."

Turning away from Kirito, the wind blew ominously as Asuna observed the crater in the ground. There, she noticed something that had escaped her attention before. There was a small door standing in the center of the sinkhole. The very existence of the door seemed to defy reality. After all, every door in Aincrad led _somewhere..._yet this door had nothing on either side of it. It was literally like someone had stuck an ordinary door into the dirt and left it there.

"Let's go," Kirito prompted, jumping over the edge of the crater and sliding to the bottom.

Asuna followed suit, and the two of them slowly approached the door with swords drawn. Soon enough, they stood just before it. Wordlessly, the two of them prepared their teleport crystals and looked at each other for confirmation.

Reaching out, Kirito turned the knob and pushed the door open.

What was revealed beyond looked fairly innocent; just a little wooden chest, sitting in the middle of an otherwise empty room. The walls were a dark gray, and lined into boxes by a darker black. Despite the fact that they could see the room through the door, when Asuna looked behind the doorframe she just saw the other side of the crater. _Paradox,_ she thought.

"Well, looks like we did it," Asuna said lightheartedly, lowering her weapon. She took a step into the room.

"No, Asuna, wait!"

The second her foot made contact with the grey floor, the door behind her slammed closed. Kirito barely had enough time to lunge and stick his sword between the door and the frame, holding it open by just a centimeter.

The room turned red.

"K-Kirito-kun?" Asuna whispered, turning to look at him with wide eyes.

"Asuna, behind you!" Kirito shouted, upon seeing several monsters materializing behind the vice commander. Asuna spun around and drew her rapier, settling into a ready stance.

There were too many.

Kirito screamed in frustration and tried desperately to force the door open, but he could not pull it open any wider. He could also feel the pressure of the door on his blade; in less than two minutes, the steel would snap. He had no time.

He could only watch, though, as the skeletal foes exchanged blows with Asuna, who was still holding them off but was being steadily surrounded. Kirito clenched his teeth as one monster lunged and managed to get a slight cut into her before it was destroyed by a deft strike. No. This was too much like before. That time...

_Sachi..._

Turning around, Asuna backed up against the wall farthest from the door. The monsters clacked their bones and teeth, raising their weapons above their heads and advancing. Kirito lost his view of Asuna, but could still hear the sounds of swords crossing swords. Then, a piercing scream broke the sounds of combat.

"_Kirito-kun!"_

The rage that had building up inside Kirito's chest exploded. Screaming, he pulled out his second blade and rammed it into the space created by his first, and began pulling with all his strength. The hooked tips of his swords dug into the wood of the door, and Kirito poured all of his strength into trying to open the door. _I can't lose Asuna like I did Sachi,_ he thought, sweat streaming down his face. _I can't lose...like that...again._

Yelling again, he fired up a sword skill, setting his weapons ablaze with power as he dug his boots into the dirt and pulled with all his might. _I won't...lose...AGAIN!_

The door budged an inch.

_I have to be strong,_ Kirito thought fiercely. _I promised myself. I promised Sachi. I would always be strong, so others wouldn't have to be. _

_I would protect other people for them._

With a final scream, Kirito's blades became blindingly bright **[alliteration!]**, and he tore the door off its hinges, sending it flying out of the crater and into the sky where it blew into polygons. Whipping around, Kirito saw Asuna fall under the pressure of five dozen skeletons.

His eyes turned red.

"ASUNA!"

He flew into the room, and his blades delivered death wherever they went. Skeleton after skeleton fell under the fury of his onslaught, and in seconds half of his adversaries were gone. The remaining monsters turned to find the source of the disturbance, and were met with dual blades to their chests and heads. Kirito blew apart the last monster just as it was swinging its weapon at a defenseless Asuna, whose rapier had fallen a few feet to her side. Screaming in uncontrolled anger, he brought his blade down on the final monster's skull and crushed it into smithereens.

The moment the last foe fell, the red walls of the trap room became transparent, and disappeared. In the span of a second, the room splintered in polygons, and Kirito and Asuna stood in the middle of the sinkhole, the chest sitting in front of them.

A stricken silence dominated, and Asuna was the first to end it.

"K-Kirito-kun-"

"Asuna."

"Y-yes?"

Kirito raised his head from his sitting position, and Asuna saw the anger in his eyes. "How could you do that to me?" he blurted out, a sob barely held back in his words. When Asuna failed to reply, he roughly grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her like a doll, shouting, "You could have died! You need to be more careful. What if I had lost you? What if I hadn't been able to save you in time, what would I have done then? I would have broken my promise to you, to me, to her..."

Asuna could only watch with a stricken face as tears began overflowing from Kirito's eyes for the first time, and he buried his head into her chest as he began to sob.

"I can't lose you like I lost her..."

Sighing as her hammering heart began to slow itself, Asuna placed two protective arms around her friend in comfort. It was true that she would never comprehend the boy, but everyone needed aid in their times of need.

_If only you would realize that, Kirito,_ Asuna sighed as she stroked his hair.

_Then you wouldn't have to hurt like this._

* * *

**_Please review the story! Constructive criticism is also very much appreciated, it helps me improve as a writer. Thanks for reading!_**

**__****Next up: Part 3 of 3-Repayment!**


	6. Lonely Mountain (Arc 2,Part 1)

**Hello, readers! I know I said Arc 1 would consist of 3 parts, but I didn't have enough ideas for the final segment to justify writing another chapter. So here's the first part of Arc 2! Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Arc 2:Part 1

Chapter 6: Lonely Mountain

_Dedication to repetition takes persistence, _thought Asuna.

This particular train of thought crossed her mind as she led her subordinates in the Knights of Blood to the floor portal. There was something almost surreal about packing up everything you owned in-game after clearing the floor to move onto the next one, only to replicate the process. In the beginning, her purpose had been a little more clear. Kill all the monsters, map out the floor, kill the boss, move on. Her weekly schedule, if it could be called that, never really deviated from this form. It seemed like performing a certain task got old over time, no matter how absurd said task was.

That included death games, apparently.

During the waxing days of her "campaign" to clear Sword Art Online, there had been a sort of revelry in advancing through the levels. A kind of bacchanalia. Yes, that was a way to put it. After having no purpose in the virtual world for such a long time, being able to envision an eventual goal had reinvigorated her will to fight. That had all been thanks to Kirito, the Black Swordsman, solo player and beater.

She also considered him her friend, an ally, someone she could rely on. Despite the obscurities upon obscurities which hid the true meaning behind Kirito's personality, she understood enough about him to deduce that he liked having others rely on him. Asuna had always suspected it was the result of a traumatic experience, but the aforementioned obscurities always prevented her from delving deeper than that. Kirito was like Kayaba Akihiko in the connotative sense; mysterious, essentially omnipotent, and as multi-layered as the world's greatest onion. The only differences, Asuna conjugated, between Akihiki and her friend Kirito were the restrictions SAO placed on the latter, as well as their senses of morale.

Stopping in her tracks, Asuna allowed her soldiers to halt for a moment. She was second in a long line of sub-commanders and commanders leading the members of the Knights of Blood into the portal which led to the next floor. The fifty-seventh, she thought it was. She'd lost count. The procedure, however, was taking an unbearably long period of time. After all, it had to be confirmed that no important items were being left behind. Especially for a guild like the Knights of Blood.

Turning, she looked behind her and saw Kirito standing at the back of the congregation, having a brief word with his information broker Argo. Kirito still refused to become an official member of the KOB, but he consented to tagging along with their movements because they were the top front line guild. Even he couldn't deny the advantages of having connections like theirs.

Frowning unconsciously, Asuna surveyed him for a bit longer. _I still don't know what drives him,_ she thought, playing absently with her hair. _I don't know what keeps him going. Is it the same as mine, his motivation? Probably not. We're like two sides of a coin._

Whatever it was, Asuna was also deeply convinced that it was linked to his antisocial tendencies. Being one of his closest allies, Asuna understood a lot more about his mentality than most did (and it still amounted to virtually nothing). Yet when she spoke to other, more distant players about him, she could see that they only saw the Black Swordsman. The mystery player who was incredible enough to clear the front lines on his own, shrouded in secrecy. They placed him in a category far above theirs, and Asuna suspected that there were a select few who would even go so far as to say he was greater than Kayaba Akihiko.

In the end, Kirito had gotten what he wanted from other people. Reliance. Unfortunately, it carried with it the side effect of isolation, a common cause of idolization.

_Did you do it on purpose? _Asuna mused, deep in thought now as she bit her lip in concentration. _Do you intentionally distance yourself from others? It would explain your reluctance to join the Knights of Blood, let alone any other guild._

Why couldn't he trust anybody?

Asuna was so deep in thought that she hadn't noticed it was her turn to lead her troops into the portal. Snapping to attention when her name was called, she turned and hurried herself to the inventory checker waiting for her. It was Kuradeel, and he scowled briefly at her before beginning the procedure.

"Weapons?"

"Check."

"Head count?"

"All present."

"Armor capacity?"

"Fully maxed, I'm afraid."

"Very well. You may proceed."

Asuna was about to jump into the portal when a voice seized her attention.

"Asuna."

Freezing, she turned around and looked Kirito right in the eye. He was regarding her with a slightly narrowed eye, a look that betrayed his impatience to explain what was on his mind. It made her heart sink, for some reason.

"I won't be following you to the fifty-seventh floor," he said bluntly.

Asuna's eyes widened. "What? Whatever for? We cleared the boss dungeon here, all that's left is a few Wild Boars and perhaps the occasional Dragon Beetle..."

"I'm not staying behind to level grind. Argo has informed me about something I really need to check out, but I'll be fine going alone. I'll meet you at Headquarters once I'm done."

There it was again. The door he closed against everyone, even his loved ones, because it would ruin his reliability. Kirito seemed to think that showing any vulnerability would doom him; when all it would do was make him that much more humane.

_Don't you want to be human, Kirito?_ Asuna thought, biting her lip again as she stared at him.

"I'm not so sure about this either, Kii-bou," Argo added, appearing from behind her client. "I'm not even sure if the source is reliable, not to mention that it's usually a bad idea to fall behind the floor clearers. You'd have a lot of catching up to do."

Kirito hardened his gaze and glared at the shorter girl. "I have no choice."

Asuna gulped.

_Maybe he doesn't want to be human._

_Maybe that's why he played this game._

Turning back to Asuna, Kirito continued, "I promise not to take long. I'm not part of your guild in any case, so it shouldn't hinder your operations. When I'm back we can talk over some Key Coffee, alright?"

"Wait!"

Kirito stiffened, stopping just after he'd turned away.

"Where are you going?"

His shoulders sank just slightly, evidencing a short sigh. "The Lonely Mountain. There's someone there who can help me answer a question. If I can accept and defeat his challenge, he'll grant one request for me. That is the rumor. And I'm going _alone,_" he added.

_That's it? All for a silly rumor? _"I don't trust you to take care of yourself," Asuna said, keeping her voice down to a low monotone. "I'm coming with you."

Kirito remained silent, like he'd seen this coming. Argo just looked back and forth between the two of them, awaiting the outcome.

Meanwhile, Kuradeel cleared his throat rather loudly and drawled, "If you would, Asuna-sama..."

Blinking, she turned to see the rest of her phalanx awaiting her procedure. Flushing slightly upon realizing her mistake, Asuna amended, "Have the troops jump into the portal, Kuradeel. I will be joining them later." Then she turned to look at Kirito.

"I'm coming with you."

For a second, the Black Swordsman remained silent. Then he snorted to himself and began making his way out of the square.

Asuna took this as an indication that he no longer cared whether she followed him or not. Ignoring the disapproving glare she got from Kuradeel before he jumped into the portal, she walked over to Argo.

"Argo," she asked, "What is Kirito looking for?"

The information broker looked at her with abnormally deep eyes.

"A cure for his guilt."

* * *

So the journey began. Kirito absolutely refused to acknowledge the fact that Asuna was following. In fact, he did such a good job of it that she briefly believed that he had no idea she was there. Asuna trailed behind him, a distance of a good thirty feet between them. She knew it was too brash at the moment to walk by his side; so for now, she would stay back.

_He really is a stubborn one,_ Asuna thought. _Somebody's gotta slap some sense into that boy._

The fifty-sixth floor of Aincrad was essentially a desert floor. The main city consisted of a hodgepodge of sandy brown buildings that seemed to be made out of some sort of stone, or perhaps reinforced clay. Not that their appearance really mattered, since all the buildings had the Immortality status. The streets were not paved or lined, but rather dirt, like a beaten path through a forest that had lost its way. What little stone tiling that did exist was conglomerated in the square where the portal was located, and the farther you got, the more the stones faded out until they were completely devoured by the erosion of the sand.

Kirito was still walking through the city in front of her, and he was still ignoring her existence. The streets were relatively empty, considering her guild's recent departure, so she felt more isolated than ever. Was this how Kirito felt on the front lines? If so, she didn't like it.

Kirito by now had walked through the extreme outskirts of the town and was climbing a short crest which had formed as a result of hundreds of sandstorms, both before and during his stay. The sand of the dune caved in beneath the weight of his feet, forming miniature sinkholes as he clambered his way to the summit. Asuna followed him up halfway, carefully observing his face.

From here, he could see a lot more. He could see the landscape before him. The blue sky above him, and the thin wispy clouds scattered her and there.

He could see the vast desert sprawling out in front of him.

The players had taken to calling it the "Rub' al Khali." The name had come from a Saudi Arabian man who had joined the Knights of Blood and had wept upon seeing this very same landscape. It reminded him of home, he'd said. According to him, the Rub' al Khali was the largest sand desert in the world, and he'd lived just along the edge of it his entire life. To him, it had been like a mirage within the death game.

The name stuck.

_He also said there's supposed to be a lost city of treasures at its center,_ Kirito thought as he braced his legs and slid down the sand dune, Asuna tailing after him.

Once he'd reached the bottom, he craned his neck to stare at the sky. The sun was blazing at its apex in the heavens, so he would have plenty of time to cover as much distance as possible before night fell. Not that a lack of sunlight would have much effect on his stamina or ability, but most monsters in Aincrad tended to become stronger when the moon rose.

Lifting his feet, Kirito began trudging his way through the shifty sand, eyes locked on his destination. The Lonely Mountain had, to some extent, been cleared, but mainly only the bottom levels. Most players had decided to focus their strengths on defeating the floor boss, and once its location had been discovered nearly all attention had been averted from the mountain. Which meant the closer he got to the summit, the harder it would become to ascend. Kirito sighed.

Why couldn't anything be easy?

* * *

_Wheeze. Wheeze._

Asuna coughed softly under her breath as he lungs continued to filter air into her body through sand-clogged capillaries. The heat of the Rub' al Khali was relentless; even in her exceptionally light armor, she was being cooked like a crab in its shell. Waves of heat beat down upon the landscape, to the extent that her vision at a certain distance was distorted. Anything more than a hundred feet away was reduced to nothing more than a simmering facade of what it really was, the true sight ruined by the sun. Despite these stifling conditions, Kirito had still refused to stop walking, or acknowledge her presence. He hadn't even bothered to remove his midnight black overcoat, and just looking at him made Asuna feel overheated. He must have been melting in that thing, what was he thinking?

Then she remembered something Lisbeth had told her once, about the time Kirito had taken the blacksmith to mine some ore. Lisbeth had been nearly immobilized by cold, and as a result Kirito had been forced to hand over his warmest coat to her. Lisbeth, of course, objected, saying that he would freeze as well. Yet all Kirito had done was straighten his collar and say, "I'm more disciplined."

_More stubborn is more like it,_ Asuna thought as she tried her best to keep the sand out of her boots.

As she mused, the wind began to pick up. It quickly whipped up the sand around her, forming a highly irritating vortex of grit that clung to her eye lashes and stung her exposed skin. Shielding her eyes from the veil of sand, she tried to look for Kirito. Meanwhile, the wind's strength exponentially increased, and in less than ten seconds she was standing in the middle of a gargantuan sandstorm.

"Kirito!" Asuna yelled, but only succeeded in filling her mouth was sand. Hacking and coughing, she placed her hands before her eyes and fought through the storm. Her vision was completely useless. All she could see was a solid wall of sand all around her, and even that was slightly obscured by the grit clinging to her eyelids.

"Kirito-kun!" she screamed again, forcing herself to dig her feet into the wildly spinning sand to make progress through the sandstorm. The wind tore at her hair, moaning in discontent as it flung more sand at her face. Asuna's boot dug into a particularly deep sinkhole and she tripped, instantly covering herself in sand as the storm began burying her with more. Hacking viciously through heavily watering eyes, she tried to crawl to her feet but was beaten down by the strength of the winds. Inwardly, she screamed to herself. She'd downed countless legions of monsters. And here she was, bested by a sandstorm. She had no teleportation crystals; no crystals of any kind, actually. They were all resting safely in the Knights of Blood's strongbox, as protocol demanded.

_What a stupid decision of mine._

A gloved palm appeared out of the wall of sand.

It reached out, grasping her own sweaty palms, pulling her up and forward into a half standing position. Looking up with squinting eyes, Asuna saw Kirito's face before hers, hair whipping around violently in the grips of the wind.

He yelled something at her, but the words were snatched away before they reached her. So instead, she grabbed the front of his coat with her fists and tried to shield herself from the storm.

Eyes narrowing in concentration, Kirito reached behind him and drew his sword. The midnight blade took on a deep red hue as he tensed and spun in a quick, tight circle, creating a small vortex of his own. The sword skill cut right through the power of the sandstorm, and in half a second the entire force was dispelled.

The silence that followed was deafening. Asuna could still hear the wind screaming in her ears, and sand cascaded from her hair when she shifted just slightly against her hold on Kirito. Kirito himself allowed the contact to last a moment longer before he placed both hands on her shoulders and pushed her to arm's length.

A tense moment passed in which Kirito did nothing but stare deep into her eyes, the two piercing orbs looking right through her. Asuna shivered suddenly when she saw the emotion those eyes held. Not relief at her safety, or even sadness. Anger. A never ending rage caused by guilt.

At long last, Kirito only sighed and let her go. "This is why I wanted to go alone," he said softly, before turning away from her and resuming his trail.

* * *

The rest of the afternoon waxed and waned without much more activity. Despite her mishap with the sandstorm, Asuna was steadfast in her tailing of Kirito. It was true that the Black Swordsman was as stubborn as a bull, but Asuna at least matched, or even surpassed, such a trait. She probably wouldn't have made it so far in Aincrad otherwise.

At least something had changed now. Kirito would now recognize the fact that she was there, occasionally turning around to send her a cursory glance that betrayed no emotion. The sand that had caked both of their clothes earlier had degenerated by now, leaving them as clean as they had been that morning. The wind itself was still shifting slightly, but not enough to stir up another vortex. It ruffled Kirito's overcoat just slightly, making him seem like some sort of action-movie superhero from behind. To Asuna, it felt slightly surreal. Someone like Kirito shouldn't have to look like an action hero.

Though that was essentially what he had become.

The first stars began to appear a few hours later. With them came the first chill of the night's cold, in startling contrast to the previous hours' scalding heat. The desert truly was a place of extremes, and Kayaba Akihiko had made no error in portraying that.

By the time Kirito actually did stop, Asuna was sagging from exhaustion. Her ST stats were considerably high among most players, but even that could not have prepared her for the massive distance she must have covered in the past nine hours. So when Kirito's feet ceased their movement for the first time that day, Asuna had to take a seat on the sand in order to rest. The night air was still and calm, so there was no more danger of a sandstorm.

But if her high school education served her properly, the nights in the desert would be freezing.

Asuna was startled out of her reverie when she realized that Kirito was actually walking _towards_ her. She tried to pull herself off the ground, but Kirito just motioned for her to not bother. Once he'd reached her, he reached into his inventory and produced two sleeping backs.

Asuna quirked an eyebrow. "Are you stopping for the night?"

Kirito nodded quietly. "My ST stats need time to reboot. I'll set up a Charm Shield, so set up somewhere close by so you won't be outside its boundaries."

A Charm Shield was an ability high-level players would sometimes obtain during dungeon clearing. It gave them the ability to set up a protective shield around an area against monsters for a certain amount of time, but it came at a cost; one thousand kol for every half hour. For Kirito to be able to afford to keep a shield up through the entire night, he must have been considerably loaded.

While Kirito was setting up the boundaries, Asuna walked over to the second sleeping back and repositioned it so it would be parallel to Kirito's. She wasted no time in crawling her way inside, shuffling her boots and overcoat away into her inventory once she'd done so. Normally she would have changed into something a more comfortable, but she wasn't so sure about forsaking a bra and panties when Kirito was so close.

Meanwhile, Kirito tapped a confirmation key and activated the shields. They were invisible for the most part, and only the cast could see the boundaries through his own eyes. This accomplished, he turned around and pulled himself into his own sleeping bag. If only there were portals that led into the middle of the Rub' al Khali, Kirito thought. Then he wouldn't have to spend a bucket load of kol to stay alive.

He wouldn't have to stop walking so Asuna could reboot her ST, either.

Sighing, Kirito checked on his own stamina. As expected, it had been hardly depleted; he had the ability to regenerate the stuff, so he had no cause to worry for the entire trip. Asuna, however, obviously lack this ability.

Thus the pit stop.

_This is why I wanted to go alone,_ Kirito thought as he laid down, observing the stars and they winked into existence above him.

* * *

**Please review!**


	7. Ascension (Arc 2,Part 2)

**Bit of a filler chapter here. I promise the next one will be better!**

* * *

Arc 2:Part 2

Chapter 7: Ascension

Whatever Kirito's sleeping bags were made out of, they sure did their job, because Asuna slept like a log. The insides were made of some sort of downy feather-like lining, allowing her to bury her nose into the stuff and revel in their warmth. In the eyes of society, Asuna was seen as an independent, strong, and steadfast woman; but when she was asleep she more often than not failed to escape the description of "cute."

Kirito observed her from the side, nibbling on a small piece of buttered bread. It was part of his knowledge that Charm Shields were virtually fail-safe against monsters, but as usual he'd had a bit of an issue with leaving everything up to a simple spell. So here he was, awake before the dawn even broke, watching over Asuna because of his paranoia. Shivering, he finished the last of his meal and dusted his hands off. The morning air was as piercingly cold as the dead of night had been, and it spread its icy fingers into his bones like some sort of intangible entity. Kirito would never fail to appreciate the beauty Aincrad contained; he hated Kayaba Akihiko for trapping him in it and had every intention of exacting revenge one day, but he still appreciated his work. After all, the very same scientist was the sole developer of the NerveGearR that had allowed him to escape the harsh cruel reality of his home world.

_In fact, I don't think I precisely despise the man,_ Kirito pondered as he pulled himself into a cross-legged position, leaning his face into one of his palms as he continued his vigil over Asuna. _He has to pay for the deaths of the players he's trapped, as well as the fates of those who still live, but that aside I still sort of admire him. A castle that floated, alone, through the skies...two years ago, something like that would have appealed to be immensely. It still does. Just not to the extreme that I'm stuck in at the moment._

He reached out absently and tucked Asuna deeper into her sleeping bag. _I wonder what's better,_ Kirito thought. _Being forever human in a mundane and understandable world, or omnipotent in a world of danger and intrigue? _It was a question he'd pondered ever since he'd taken his first full dive in a Nerve Gear. When he'd woken up from that first dip in the virtual reality, his initial view of the ceiling of his room had seen horribly ordinary. Dull. Even when he'd taken off his helmet and joined his family for dinner, everything seemed paltry and semi-formed compared to the lush colors and life of a VMMORPG. The very people he ate with, the family who had raised him, seemed to blend into the bland flavors of the walls of his house. Ever since then, it was like the roles of the two worlds had been reversed; he lived truly within the virtual reality, and he logged into the real world to rest.

Something winked in the corner of his left eye, and Kirito squinted just slightly. Turning, he saw the beginnings of a sunrise along the horizon of the fifty-sixth floor. The weak rays of sunlight crawled along the earth, just barely reaching his position. The warmth of the sun on his skin wasn't real, he knew, and neither was the increasingly pink hue of the sky above him. Nothing in this fascinating, addictive world was real. At first, that had been part of its charm; nothing here had had any consequence.

Then Kayaba Akihiko had brought mortality into the virtual reality.

_It's not virtual if you can die,_ Kirito mused, getting up to deactivate the Charm Shield. _That's why I have to escape from here. Because if I die, Suguha will be sad. If I die, I'd have broken my promise to everyone who died here already. _

He deactivated the last part of the shield and turned to see that the sun had risen halfway.

_Besides, not everyone appreciates a virtual reality. So I can't see those people here._

Kirito walked over to Asuna to wake her.

_I'd miss them if I stayed._

"Asuna."

Asuna tightened her already closed eyes, snuggling deeper into the sleeping bag. She didn't want to wake up just yet. For a Vice Commander, she was exceptionally undisciplined when it came to waking up in the morning.

Something poked at her face, probing at her cheeks. Asuna mewled in irritation and tried to hide from the disturbance, but it was relentless, coming at her like there was no tomorrow. Patience finally snapping, she extended her neck and lunged, sinking her teeth into the bothersome appendage with a muffled "Leave me alone!"

A startled yelp of pain.

That voice. It was familiar. Opening one eye, Asuna looked for the source.

There was Kirito, with a contorted expression on his face.

And his finger in between her teeth, her tongue languidly pressed against the tasteless digit.

They made eye contact for a moment. Then Kirito muttered something under his breath and abruptly yanked his finger out of her mouth, flapping the injured hand around in the air like it was an fire. Asuna just watched, too tired for any emotion. Eventually, Kirito calmed down enough to passively observe the tooth-shaped computer simulated blood marking on his index finger. Then he just sighed and let the damage disappear as his health did its job and regenerated.

"Impressive," he remarked. "You took off thirty health points."

Asuna just glared at him.

"What were you doing?"

A slight flush appeared on Kirito's face. "I was...ah...poking your face."

A dark shadow passed over Asuna's expression.

"What for?"

Kirito's blush deepened at the question and he averted his glance, at a rare loss for words. "I-I was just trying to wake you up! Dawn has broken and we need to get going..."

Asuna looked to her right and saw that this was indeed true. The sun was striking her right in the face, warming the cold skin. Turning her attention back to Kirito, she said, "Fine, whatever. Let's go."

Kirito nodded and stood up, backing up a few steps. Asuna crawled her way out of her sleeping bag and yawned mightily, stretching in a luxurious manner as she did so, doing her best to pop all of those kinks in her spine. From behind her, Kirito simply watched, trying his best to keep a certain part of his anatomy under control.

Asuna had just finished rearranging her inventory when something occurred to her. "Kirito," she asked, "Were you waiting for me to wake up?"

The beater looked over at her. "More or less. I wanted to wake you immediately, but I decided to wait until dawn broke."

"Oh," she said softly, blushing. Why was it that she always fell asleep while Kirito was watching over her?

"In any case, we have to get going," Kirito continued, straightening his collar. "Let's go." He turned away from her and began walking towards the mountain in the distance, not bothering to check if Asuna would follow.

But she did, of course. After taking a moment to run up beside him, Asuna said coyly, "Ah, so it's 'we', now, eh? What happened to the silent treatment you were giving me yesterday?"

Kirito snorted as he kept his eyes fixed on his destination. "If I kept ignoring you you'd probably blow something up or die in the next sandstorm."

Asuna sighed in mock exasperation. "I'm tougher than a sandstorm."

Kirito stopped moving, forcing her to turn around and look at him. The Black Swordsman regarded her with serious eyes.

"It's alright if you aren't. I'll still save you."

Then he resumed his pace, walking past her.

Shaking her head in confusion, Asuna jogged to catch up with him again. "So how much of the dungeons have been cleared at Lonely Mountain?" she asked.

Kirito shook his head. "There are no dungeons there. The only way to the top is to climb all the way up its side."

The Vice Commander gaped at him. "Are you kidding me? That's not the biggest mountain in Aincrad, but it's still huge! How can you expect to get up and down that thing in a reasonable time? The front-liners would probably clear the game before you managed it on foot."

For the first time that day, Kirito offered her a wicked smile. "On foot," he said ominously.

Six hours later, Asuna stood craning her neck up at the summit of Lonely Mountain.

It had taken them until noon to reach the towering rock, but they'd finally made it. At this time of the day, the cold of the morning had dissipated into the usual intense heat, leaving both her and Kirito dripping slightly with perspiration. They both stood at the foot of the mountain, staring up at its peak.

"So," Asuna spoke, her voice echoing off the near-vertical rocks of the mountain. "How were we planning to get up there, again?"

Kirito didn't answer.

Turning to look at him, Asuna repeated herself.

"How are we going to get up there?"

Finally, he turned to look at her. "There is no 'we' from this point," he said softly.

Asuna narrowed her eyes at him. "Excuse me?"

Reaching in his inventory, Kirito produced an unmarked drawstring sack in his palm. "I'm going to the summit alone," he elaborated, digging some sort of seed out of the sack and holding it up to the sky.

"That's ridiculous! We came here this far together, so what's the point of splitting up now?" Asuna objected heatedly, eyeing the mysterious seeds in her companion's hands.

Kirito allowed himself a small smile. "Well if you insist," he smirked, "You can follow me. You'll have to find your own way up, though."

Asuna only had enough time to utter, "What?" Before the huge bird swooped down from the sky.

Something big and loud screeched behind her, and Asuna whipped around, rapier at the ready. The massive bird blew past her at much too fast of a clip, however, and sand billowed around them from the speed drag. Shielding her eyes, Asuna saw what looked like a massive eagle coming around for another pass. It looked like any of its brethren from afar, aside from its ridiculous size. She readied her rapier.

"Wait," Kirito said, sounding almost bored. "Don't kill it."

Before she could ask why the hell she shouldn't chop the damn thing up just for existing, Kirito leapt into the air. In the meantime, the eagle roared back at their position. Timing his landing perfectly, Kirito drew his sword and landed heavily on the eagle's back, plunging his blade into its feathery, muscled back.

The beast screamed in agony and flapped its wings in an erratic manner, throwing sand dust everywhere. Asuna was forced to shield her eyes from the winds, and in this time Kirito yanked back on his sword, forcing the eagle to face upwards towards the sky. Sensing that flight was its only escape, the massive bird groaned in pain and flapped its wings laboriously. In a few seconds, it gained altitude, then it was blasting off towards the summit.

"Kirito!" Asuna bellowed, furious that she had been duped yet again. Above her, the eagle soared in ever tightening circles, and she could see the Black Swordsman's silhouette against the burning sun.

Kirito took a moment to look over his shoulder at the ground, but had to look back when vertigo seized his sense of balance. In the split second he had looked, however, he'd had enough time to figure out that Asuna was pissed.

_I suppose it is justified, _Kirito thought absently as the eagle screeched once more an peaked at the summit. Leaping off the beast's back, he landed neatly on a nearby outcropping, rolling to take the shock off his fall. The eagle squacked tiredly and began to tiredly fly away, not even bothering to try and exact revenge. A smart decision, as it would have died should it have tried.

_Alright,_ Kirito thought, sheathing his sword and turning around. _Now for the hard part._

He was standing on the summit of the mountain. Up here the sun felt even more scalding than before; it seemed like the closer he got to the damn thing, the hotter its rays got. The peak of the Lonely Mountain was almost completely flat, like a polished stone. Nothing stood there aside from a single boulder right in the center, at about chest level.

But aside from that, it was barren.

_I was expecting to see him here,_ Kirito thought as he slowly walked to the other side of the summit.

"Have you come to challenge me?"

The deep, gruff voice came from behind him. Turning slowly, Kirito saw a short, stumped figure sitting against the side of the boulder he'd just passed. _He must have been hidden behind the rock,_ he thought.

"I'll assume that's what you're here for," the figure continued, reaching up to stroke its long, scraggly beard.

Kirito observed his adversary. He was a short man, with thin limbs an a head that seemed proportionally large compared to his body. He wore no shirt, but he did wear a pair of ragged pants. A wild, unkempt beard was growing on his face, reaching past his hollow chest as he sat cross legged under the shade of the rocks. His eyes were a deep yellow, and when he opened his mouth to speak all Kirito could see was gums. No teeth.

"Yes," he said. "That's why I'm here."

The small man nodded. "Are you willing to risk your life to take the challenge?"

The wind shifted through the summit.

The figure sighed, and cracked its thing knuckles.

"Then prepare to die."

* * *

**Please review!**


	8. Fear Factor (Arc 2,Part 3)

**This is the final segment of the second arc. The next arc will consist of two parts and will be a Valentines Day special. The first chapter should go up around the 13th, and will conclude on the 14th. Enjoy the story!**

* * *

Arc 2:Part 3

Chapter 8: Fear Factor

_I'll take him out quickly,_ Kirito thought, reaching behind him to wrap his fingers around the hilt of his Elucidator. _I know he looks weak, but I shouldn't be fooled; plenty of small monsters in Aincrad are capable of dealing more than enough damage to kill. His size will probably give him the speed advantage. My defense will have to be flawless. What sort of weapon will he use? A dagger? A tomahawk?_

The short man reached behind himself as well, although Kirito saw no hint of a sheath there. He tensed, awaiting his attack.

It never came. The short little man sat back down on the floor, holding a small object in his hands. Or at least Kirito thought it was an object, until it moved.

No words were exchanged between them as the old man played with the little thing in the palm of his hand.

"It's name is Silent Death," the stunted figure growled out suddenly, stroking his finger along the tiny creature's ridged back. "He shall be your challenge."

Kirito's eyes widened in disbelief.

_He wants me to fight a bug?_

The "Silent Death" was, indeed, an average-sized scorpion. It was actually quite underwhelming in its appearance, with the standard dust-colored exoskeleton and the thin, razor sharp pincers that coupled well with the stinger hanging above its head, ready to strike. The thing wasn't even larger than it should have been, like the eagle he'd ridden up the mountain on. The little creature skittered about on the old man's palm, clicking its tiny mandibles now and then in some sort of expression of emotion. Kirito took a moment to glance at its health stats. Only fifty health points.

Clearing his throat loudly, Kirito said, "I'm sorry for not understanding, but what do you mean?"

The old man locked eyes with him, looking confused himself. "What, did you think that you would be fighting me with those things?" he said gruffly, gesturing at the twin blades strapped to Kirito's back. "No, no, no. My challenge is a bit of a more..._psychological_ one, if you will. The Maker has created me to be a bit more sentimental than most of my kin, but in the end I do still classify as a monster."

Kirito just narrowed his eyes, waiting for him to continue.

"This is the challenge I present to you, young man, as well as any other wanderer who deigns to visit me atop my mountain. It involves my little pet here, Silent Death. He has a very special ability, you see, the ability to take away half of your health points in one strike, regardless of your power."

The Black Swordsman's heart skipped a beat at that one, and he began regarding the scorpion with a bit more apprehension.

The old man laughed, a dry, painful-sounding noise. Wiping his spittle covered mouth on the back of his hand, he shifted in his cross legged position and continued, "Scared now, are we? That is understandable. Size is irrelevant when it comes to being dangerous, I'm afraid. But enough prattle. I'm sure you've come with every intention of going through with my challenge, regardless."

Kirito nodded solemnly.

The old man returned the affirmation, before reaching behind him once more to produce a bottle that hadn't been there before. The bottle was made out of red glass, and its lid was missing. Dust covered its entire outer surface. Producing an empty glass that also seemed to come out of nowhere, the scraggly old man tipped the scarlet bottle and poured half of its contents into the glass. What came out was a dark green liquid that shimmered subtly once it had settled down, and the first word that entered Kirito's mind was _poison._

"Very well. This is my challenge," the old man began. "If you are willing, I will place Silent Death upon the back of your dominant hand, where you must balance him. Do no allow him to fall, because he'll stab your palm before he even loses his balance. While you keep him there, you must consume this entire glass of Fool's Poison." He gestured at the filled cup before him. "The poison serves a similar function as the scorpion; it will automatically consume half of your health, regardless of level."

Kirito gritted his teeth. "So if I drink it, and your pet bug stings me, wouldn't I die?"

"Potentially. You have to drink all the poison to complete my challenge, so you shall lose half of your health regardless. Just don't allow my friend here to sting you, and you should be fine."

A moment of silence seized the summit as Kirito contemplated the man's offer. Finally, he asked a question.

"How many have survived?"

The old man laughed again, this time not even bothering to wipe away the spit that flew out of his rotten mouth. "Just one other."

A grim line dominated Kirito's mouth. Staring hard at the unimposing insect poised before him, he made his decision.

"Fine. I accept your challenge."

The old man nodded at him.

"Good fortune."

* * *

_That half-assed idiot,_ Asuna thought as she continued her inspection of the ground.

Ever since Kirito had taken his rather rude leave of her, Asuna had been thinking furiously for a way to follow the bastard up to the summit. The rocky face of the mountain was cut smooth from a year of sandstorms, so climbing was out of the question. It would have taken too long, in any case.

That was when Asuna had remembered the seeds Kirito had used earlier. _Those things must attract the big birds,_ she'd thought. He might had dropped some when he jumped atop the eagle from earlier. _Maybe there'll be some seeds left on the floor?_

After five minutes of searching, however, she'd only found one of the blasted seeds. There really weren't any around. How was she going to get up there?

_Rumble._

Asuna froze. Seemingly out of nowhere, the earth had shaken; either something huge was coming towards her, or there was an earthquake happening. A quick inspection of her surroundings revealed that the first possibility was not viable. The landscape sprawled out before her without anything blocking her vision, and Asuna saw nothing coming her way. That meant whatever had shaken the earth...

Was below her.

She jumped with barely a nanosecond to spare. The moment her feet left the ground, the earth erupted and sand was blown outward in every direction. A loud, grating rumble began emanating from the center of the disturbance, the deep bass notes drumming their way through Asuna's chest and sending her heart hammering. Landing a good distance away from the explosion, Asuna quickly drew her rapier and waited.

Slowly, the dusted settled, and the massive figure behind the smokescreen was revealed. When the last grain was sand fell to the earth, Asuna gritted her teeth and took a step back.

Before her stood a dragon, and Dust Dragon, judging from the brown coloring of its scales. The massive beast must have been sleeping underneath the shade of the mountain during the day. It had probably been buried by the sandstorm from yesterday, and as it was with all dragons, the excessive heat must have lulled it to sleep...

_Of all the god damned times to wake up,_ Asuna thought as she fell into a ready stance.

The dragon reared its head back, maximizing its size as its wings unfurled behind it, casting a never ending shadow in its midst. Letting out its first roar in days, it spewed fire straight at her.

Asuna was forced to jump again, and despite the speed with which she had escape the heat still scalded her from behind. Looking back, she saw that a ten foot deep hole had been burned into the side of the Lonely Mountain. Molten rock dripped from the corners of the hole, sizzling as they made contact with the considerably cooler sand.

Did she also forget to mention that Dust Dragons breathe the deadliest fire of all its kin?

The monster roared again and lunged for her, claws extended as is wings pumped wildly to accelerate its approach. Asuna threw herself to the floor and the dragon vaulted over her, having overshot its attack, and the massive beast landed some twenty feet away with a solid _thump. _Scrambling to her feet, Asuna readied a sword skill. Her rapier took on a glowing blue hue, and she charged.

* * *

Kirito couldn't suppress a gulp of anticipation as he joined the old man, sitting cross legged across from him. The humanoid monster gestured for him to give him his right arm, which Kirito did with little hesitation. It was true that the old man was a monster, and it was true that monsters killed players, but something about this one made him feel that its function was not to physically injure.

The scorpion would, however.

The old man grabbed Kirito's wrist in a surprisingly gentle manner, and the Black Swordsman was astonished at just how human he really looked. Aside from the dirt caking his skin or the unkempt beard, the old man seemed like any other person he'd ever met in his life. Perhaps that was the danger he held?

With his other hand, the stunted man picked up the scorpion and brought it up to Kirito's own arm. Kirito's heartbeat tripled as the little insect drew closer and closer to his flesh, which was totally exposed to the mercy of its sting. One strike, and half his HP would disappear. Another hit, and then...

"This is your last chance," the old man said suddenly. "You may turn back now, if you wish."

Kirito continued drilling his eyes at the little bug squatting before him. The Silent Death almost seemed to return the eye contact, its little mandibles gnashing in preparation for the ordeal to come.

"No," he said at last. "Begin the challenge."

The old man nodded, and placed the scorpion on the back of his hand.

Kirito involuntarily shivered when the insect's pointy legs pricked against his flesh. Goosebumps began to rise on the surface of his skin, and the hair on his arms stood straight up. Kirito was suddenly glad that you couldn't really get goosebumps on the backs of your hands, for fear of disturbing the Silent Death.

The little bug allowed himself to skitter around slowly, its tiny claws snapping together at a steady pace as it surveyed its surroundings.

Meanwhile, the old man picked up the filled cup of poison and slowly wrapped Kirito's fingers around it. Even through the glass, Kirito could tell that the substance was cold, like ice. Using only a minute amount of strength, he readjusted his grip on the drink.

"Begin," the old man whispered.

A bead of sweat broke out on Kirito's forehead; suddenly, this didn't seem like a very great idea. Drinking the poison alone would cut his life in half. A sting from the bug afterwards would kill him. The prospect of dying on top of this god-forsaken rock suddenly felt very real, and his throat constricted upon itself in fear. Frantically, Kirito attempted to slow his heartbeat. If it went too fast, the veins pulsing in his hands might twitch, and incite an attack. Petrified now, Kirito watched the scorpion's tail, analyzing it as it bobbed up and down.

Somewhere nearby, a beast roared in anger. But Kirito barely heard it, too preoccupied with the bug. Taking a long, deep breath through his nostrils, he slowly began to lift the cup to his lips.

Sensing the unprecedented movement, the scorpion abruptly paused before spinning around to face him, tail raised. Kirito instinctively ceased his raising of the cup as a result, eyes locked with the beady eyes of the Silent Death. It's supple exoskeleton bent slightly as it flexed the tip of its tail, accenting the shape of the barbed tip. At this point, Kirito's heart was beating so violently then he was astonished that his veins hadn't overfilled and burst already. The bead of sweat that had begun on his forehead had made its way to his chin, and there it dripped, slowly.

_Pit, pat. Pit, pat._

Gritting his teeth, Kirito resumed his movements, bringing both the cup and the insect even closer to his face. This time, the bug didn't even move. It just watched him, clicking its claws together at that ever maddening pace. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the very rim of the cup was pressing softly against his lips. This also meant that the Silent Death was less than three inches from his eyes, a distance from which the scorpion could easily lunge and plunge its stinger into his eyeballs. The thought made his lips go dry, but he dared not lick them, for fear that the insect would sting that as well.

Forcing himself to look away, Kirito refocused his attention on the old man. But the old man just watched him too, with those unnaturally yellow eyes, the only part of him that seemed distinctly non-human.

From somewhere below the summit of the mountain, there was a deep booming sound. Kirito briefly wondered what it could be.

_Oh, well,_ he thought as the scorpion tapped one of its feet against his skin, as if in deep thought. _Might as well get this over with._

And with that, he tipped the cup back, and began to drink.

* * *

As Asuna dodged yet another blast of fire from the dragon, she was struck by an idea.

_Well, it isn't exactly an eagle,_ she thought as she ran around behind her adversary, _But it'll have to do._

That covered, Asuna leapt, landing neatly on the Sand Dragon's back. Before the beast could throw her off, however, she yelled and stabbed her rapier between the chinks in its armor.

A computer marking simulating the effects of blood appeared almost immediately, and out of the corner of her eye Asuna saw the dragon's health drop just slightly. Bellowing in discontent, the dragon bucked, desperately trying to throw the bothersome girl off its back. Unfurling its wings, it beat them backwards, trying to buffet her with the massive things. Asuna persevered through it all, holding onto the hilt of her blade as if her life depended on it.

Finally, the dragon came to the very same conclusion the eagle had: flight. Flight was the only escape. Roaring at the sky, the dragon snapped open its wings and took off immediately, wheeling its way into the sky. Asuna gasped at the sudden change in altitude, and was forced to shield her eyes from the wind screaming at her from above. Her hair flew every which way and her clothes snapped in the wind, and the dragon never stopped flying, opening its maw to let out another jet of flames in frustration.

* * *

When the first of the cold poison touched his tongue, it stung like fire. Kirito barely kept himself from flinching at the taste, and forced himself to swallow the liquid that cascaded down his throat. It was a difficult thing to do, considering that he was voluntarily depleting his own HP. Not to mention the scorpion that sat less than an inch now from his nose.

When the poison hit his stomach, the thing turned over, and he almost immediately felt like he had to hurl. This was a VMMORPG, so he technically did not have a stomach, but apparently Kayaba Akihiko had seen it fit to program the feeling of intense nausea and the need to use the bathroom.

At last, the final drop of poison left the cup and was yanked down Kirito's throat. Sweat poured down his face as he watched his health bar digress into the yellow zone in absolutely no time. Meanwhile, the scorpion chittered happily to itself.

Just then, the old man spoke for the first time since the challenge had begun.

"Did you drink it all?"

In response, Kirito squeezed his hand.

The old man nodded in confirmation. "Very well. Now keep still. I'm going to remove my companion from your person."

Kirito squeezed his hand again in response, and waited.

The old man reached out and gently lifted the scorpion off of his hand, cooing softly as he pulled the damned thing away from him. The moment there was at least a foot between him and the insect, Kirito led out a great _whoosh_ of air and fell back, laying on his back. The world seemed to swim in front of him as he tried to comprehend what he had just survived. The effects of the poison had ceased after leaving his health depleted, but its aftereffects still lingered, and he felt sick. Flopping around onto his stomach, Kirito got on his hands and knees and retched.

After emptying out the contents of his stomach, Kirito pulled himself to his feet, wiping his mouth and tossing the empty cup away. Resting his weight on his knees in order to remain standing, he gasped out,

"Now...grant...my wish."

The old man just watched him, face betraying no emotion. He nodded.

"Very well. Ask, and I shall provide."

Kirito sighed in relief. So Argo's intel had been accurate.

"Tell me...how to resurrect a deceased player."

The old man's eyes narrowed.

Then the dragon came.

With absolutely no warning whatsoever, a column of fire erupted from just below the summit. Eyes widening in shock, Kirito watched it dissipate until its creator followed. The Sand Dragon roared in all its fury and winged its way high above the mountain, before peaking out and falling back down from the sky, its ST stats exhausted. Kirito leapt back as the monster landed heavily on the polished surface of the Lonely Mountain, barely conscious.

A honey-colored head popped out from behind the dragon's skull.

Kirito's eyes went wide with disbelief. "Asuna?"

"Kirito!" she called out, sounding strangely angry. "I swear to god, the things I had to do to keep up with you..."

The dragon's eyes opened.

"You should have let me follow you up here!" Asuna continued to shoot, waving her arms around like a child. "I could have helped out, you know!"

The dragon raised its head, and Kirito gritted his teeth.

"Kirito-kun?" Asuna said, confused now.

Kirito dove out of the way just before the dragon unleashed its largest jet of fire yet, tearing a trench into the surface of the rock they stood on.

The old man, unfortunately, was no so fortunate.

"No!" Kirito screamed as the small figure was engulfed by the flames, instantly reducing him to ashes, and with him, the answer to Kirito's question.

"Oh, crap," Asuna muttered before she yanked her rapier out of the dragon and stabbed it again. She was intent on finishing the beast off, but Kirito beat her to it.

He came out of nowhere, almost a blur as suddenly two blades drilled their way into the dragon's face. The attack came so suddenly that the beast itself was thrown back, and Asuna tumbled off of the dragon's back. Meanwhile, Kirito proceeded to dish out the beating of the century.

Before the dragon even had any time to recover, Kirito pulled his blades out of its scales and plunged both of them into its vulnerable mouth. The dragon screamed as its incendiary glands were ruptured. They were the organs that provided the spark needed to breath fire, and now they were gone as Kirito continued his assault, slashing and hacking at the dragon's exposed mouth until all of its teeth were nothing but jagged splinters.

Screaming in rage, Kirito slammed both of his blades together and rammed them into his foe's eyes, debilitating its vision and effectively crippling the monster. The dragon let out a pitiful scream and yielded, its legs giving out as it collapsed to the floor. But Kirito didn't stop; he just kept slashing and hacking, taking off its ears, more teeth, even its tongue, consumed by the anger caused by seeing the old man die. Yet not out of any remorse for the death, but the fact that the answer to his question had been lost.

"DIE!" he screamed one last time before impaling his Elucidator into the roof of the dragon's mouth.

And that was the last straw. The monster began to low bright white; and in a moment's time, it splintered into a million tiny polygons.

With all his foes eliminated, Kirito's strength gave out. His knees folded underneath him, and he fell face first. Asuna rushed over from the side and interrupted his fall, saving her friend just a little more pain. Delicately cradling the boy in her arms, and said,

"Kirito...what have I done?"

He didn't answer.

Asuna glanced over at the pile of ashes nearby.

"Who was he?"

His eyes opened.

Looking up at her, he easily locked eyes with the Vice Commander. The anger returned to his expression, but it was cold now, having lost its previous heat. That was the thing about Kirito. His anger was also cold, so he could use it.

"He was the cure for my guilt," Kirito croaked out, before he picked himself off the ground and walked away, leaving Asuna to contemplate the consequences.

* * *

**Please review! It keeps me motivated!**


	9. Treachery of the Heart

**Greetings, dear reader. This is part one of two in my Valentine's Day themed story arc. It will begin today and conclude tomorrow, on the 14th. I am well aware that most other authors are susceptible to posting fluff or even smut on such an occasion, but I've always been more fun of tragedies.**

**Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Arc 3:Part 1

Chapter 9: Treachery of the Heart

From some time in the past, a multitude of months ago, Kazuto retained a memory, a paradox of sorts; the mental image of a simple flower, just a daisy, withstanding an endless stream of water from a hose.

The flower's stem was so delicate, he'd thought as he'd watched the sprinklers do their work in watering the greenery of his backyard. Although the water was supposed to be life giving, Kazuto couldn't help wondering if the sprinkler felt like a thunderous downpour to the flower. Watching the plant's head bend under the weight of the stream it endured, it had seemed too much like it was buckling under the pressure. Maybe daisies were like people.

_I wonder if we can both rot from neglect, as well,_ Kazuto pondered as he watched the rain zip down from the sky. As of the current moment, a thunderous downpour was terrorizing the entire city; the very streets had flooded, shops were shut down, flights cancelled, and arrangements postponed. The torrential weather had its grip around the entire metropolis like an unyielding fist, and it showed no evidence of relinquishing its hold in any due time at all. Flicking an errant droplet of rain water from his relatively long hair, Kazuto stared up at the sky from his position on the balcony of his apartment.

_Grey. Everything so gloomy nowadays. _He sighed and turned away, shivering briefly from the piercing cold that dominated the evening air. Yanking open the sliding door, he stepped back into the building.

_Can she control the weather, by any chance? _He wondered, striding over to the table in order to finish a cup of tea that he'd prepared but never intended to finish. Wrapping his thin fingers around the china cup, he allowed his eyes to immerse themselves within the transparent liquid's depths. Maybe she could. That would explain the freakish weather that had struck of no accord, devoid of warning, absent in purpose. It had just...come. The sun hadn't exactly been blazing before the downpour had initiated itself, but it had been pleasant enough. Just enough warmth, just enough cold to keep one from becoming too languid.

An equilibrium. Like a tipping point.

Kazuto blinked and spared another cursory glance at the spears of water striking the window nearby. If the weather genuinely was a reflection of her emotions, he mused, she really needed to regulate the imbalance.

Not that Asuna was entirely accountable; Kazuto was at least partly responsible for her probable rage, but where was the fun in admitting that?

_Where's the fun in any of this?_ Kazuto lifted his tea and forced himself to choke down a mouthful. The hot liquid scalded an already tasteless tongue and came to rest in a stomach as cold as his current disposition, where it fizzled out of existence.

As if in protest, the sky lit up for a nanosecond as a bolt of lightning lit up the heavens; the thunder followed soon afterwards, as it always did, rumbling across the horizon in a terrific cacophony. Kazuto flinched at the sudden explosion; the thought that Asuna's rage was embodied in the storm had been oddly engrained into his thinking, and the thunder did nothing to ease this notion.

Taking another unwelcome drought of his now cold tea, Kazuto reached out and traced the floral pattern of the table cover, following the path of a particular rose until it ended at the corner of the table. Frowning at the unexpected end, he let his hand fall back in place. There were no lights on in his apartment at the moment, so its interior was nearly pitch black. _Maybe there was more to that rose, after all,_ he speculated, already regretting losing his spot. _Maybe I'm just too blind to see it._

_Too blind...too blind to see..._

_Don't see..._

_Can't see, won't see..._

"I hate you!"

There it was, the dagger to his already frail defense against collapse. Like a mirror in a house of illusions, it splintered and fell from its frame, revealing its flimsiness. It reached past his eardrums and snaked its unforgiving fingers into his veins, until the ice-cold reality of it all sank its fangs into his heart. Gasping, Kazuto's wrist flinched, knocking over his half full cup of tea and spilling its contents over the floral print of the table cover. The transparent liquid trailed slowly across the surface, quickly losing its momentum, and Kazuto just watched, his lower lip trembling uncontrollably. With an equally shaky hand, he reached for a napkin and tried in vain to wipe up the mess. All he succeeded in doing was staining the sleeve of his sweater, however, at which Kazuto swallowed heavily. His own insecurity shook him.

"See what you've done, Kazuto. You've done so much. Too much."

_I'm sorry..._

A ring at the door.

Reality came rushing back at him then, and Kazuto's eyes regained a fraction of their usual clarity. For the first time in several minutes, he took notice of his surroundings, their sudden appearance briefly disorienting him. It was like standing atop a tower in Alfheim, he thought as he staggered to his feet, intent on answering the door, especially when the intruder began to knock in coalition with his ringing. Despite the irritation his visiter provided, Kazuto was internally grateful for the interruption.

Had he had more time to think, he might have broken to her.

Kazuto continued the unsteady journey to his front door, knocking over more items to the floor in the process. By the time he'd managed to drag himself to lean his face against the peephole, a myriad of items lay strewn across the carpet behind him, from bottles to cups to photos and remotes and even a now shattered vase. Sucking in a large lungful of air in order to sustain his imminent movements, Kazuto reached out and wrapped his thin fingers around the doorknob. With a muffled grunt, he flexed his wrist and twisted it open; then he allowed his body weight to do the rest, falling into a sitting position as gravity swung the door open to allow entry.

"Finally!" Came a disgruntled voice from the other side; Kazuto was too exhausted to look up and see who it was. The voice sounded familiar, though...

"I thought you'd never answer the door," came the voice once more. There was the brief ambience of his visitor padding his way into the apartment, and the soft _squelch_ of thoroughly soaked clothing. Meanwhile, the talking continued.

"It's raining _buckets_ out there. Fifth street's flooded, and even the bank's closed! Imagine that, eh Kazuto? The Shinonome Bank hasn't had to close it's doors since I was in first grade, not that that's really important information...right? Kazuto? Oi, Kazuto. Are you alright? Hey, I'm asking you something! Kazuto!"

The voice's tone went from exasperated to panicking, and Kazuto felt two strong hands gripping his shoulders. Blinking, he tried to summon the strength to crane his neck _just_ far enough to see who it was; the voice just sounded so familiar. Why was he so tired? He didn't remember doing anything strenuous lately...and he'd eaten...or had he? The last thing he remembered consuming was the tea, and then...and then...couldn't quite remember what...

"Kazuto!"

He felt his eyes rolling back in their sockets as the world tilted before him, and suddenly he was staring at the ceiling. The lamp fixated there was at the center of his vision, and it produced a multitude of little phosphenes there, increasing the sensation of sickness that coiled within his consciousness like a parasite. A slight throb at the back of his head. Someone crouched by his side, blotting out the light from the ceiling. Due to his steadily darkening vision, Kazuto found it hard to identify the man, but the important thing was that he was here now.

Breathing in deeply, he mustered the strength to reach out and loosely grab the man's collar between his fingers.

"Kazuto!" Klein shouted again, shaking his longtime friend like a ragged doll. "Snap out of it! What's wrong with you? Who did this? Answer me!"

The younger man's lower jaw fell open, as if in preparation to respond to him. His dry, cracked lips moved in the formation of words, but they were incomprehensible. Klein just watched, stricken, as Kazuto struggled to enunciate himself. Finally, he got a sound out.

"Hurt her..."

Gritting his teeth, Klein grabbed his friend's own collar in both hands. "Hurt? Where? Tell me!"

Smiling almost amiably, Kazuto shook his head slowly like he was scolding an unruly child.

"No," he rasped out, sounding like a dying man.

"I...hurt her..."

His strength gave out, then.

And the world went black.

* * *

"I love you, Kirigaya-kun."

Like kindling thrown into a dank cave, those words lit up the space around him; at first, just a pinpoint, or prick in the distance. Then it was growing, expanding, stretching, until suddenly it was blinding, and he wasn't here, but somewhere else.

When he opened his eyes, he wasn't Kazuto anymore.

Blinking, Kirito tried to make sense of his surroundings. The first thing he took note of was the excessive brightness. It was everywhere. Then, when he shifted his view, at the center of his vision-

"Asuna," he breathed.

The girl standing before him smiled adoringly at him, reaching out the trace a soft finger down his face.

"Kirito...you love me too, don't you?"

_There was a time when men were kind_

_When their voices were soft_

_And their words inviting_

_There was a time when love was blind_

_And the world was a song_

_An the song was exciting_

_There was a time_

_Then it all went wrong..._

Hyperventilating now, Kirito fell to his knees before her and placed both palms upon the floor. A blink later, and the tears came; hot, flooding, and endless, they came. Gasping out for air, he buried his nose into the floor and whispered,

"What have I done?"

_I dreamed a dream in time gone by_

_When hope was high_

_And life worth living_

_I dreamed that love would never die_

_I dreamed that God would be forgiving_

_Then I was young and unafraid_

_And dreams were made and used and wasted_

_There was no ransom to be paid_

_No song unsung, no wine untasted..._

As his tears flowed from his eyes and into the ground below, evaporating in the light, Kirito felt Asuna's arms wrapping around him. A moment later he was held in her embrace, and she pressed her face into his hair, breathing in deeply as if it secreted a wonderful scent she couldn't live without. Immobilized, Kirito could only stare at Asuna's hair flowing in an unfeeling wind as the images began flashing before his eyes; Asuna smiling, Asana laughing, Asuna pouting. Asuna sighing, Asuna chuckling. Angry, disappointed, irritated, worried, scared, expectant.

Terrified, scared, alone, crying.

Betrayed.

"_I hate you!_"

"I'm sorry, Asuna..."

The ghostly vision of the love of his life offered him another tight hug.

"_It's okay," _the ghost whispered.

_"After all, you promised."_

_I had a dream my life would be_

_So different from this hell I'm living_

_So different now from what it seemed_

_Now life has killed the dream I dreamed_

* * *

Consciousness.

Opening his eyes, Kazuto felt something throbbing in his chest. Reaching up, he quickly found out that it was his heart pounding away in his ribcage. Wiping at his eyes to clear them, he stared at the ceiling. Kazuto or Kirito, he was still the same person...wasn't he? After all, they both lived for the same cause. Asuna.

_But you broke her,_ snickered the demon inside.

Tilting his head to the side, Kazuto finally recognized Klein, who was fast asleep and leaning against a nearby wall. He was wrapped up in a small mountain of blankets and pillows, and the fireplace was crackling steadily in the hearth. Choosing to think about how he'd gotten there later, he resumed his vigil with the ceiling.

Outside, the storm continued to rage. Kirito's throat worked as the thoughts tortured him.

_Why did I hurt her?_

* * *

**_PLEASE REVIEW FOR MORE!_**


	10. The Darkest Light (Arc 3,Part 1)

Arc 3: Part 1

Chapter 10: The Darkest Light

_Nothing changes on New Years day._

Snow fell in little flecks from the sky. The frozen droplets were, of course, virtual, but they were steadfast in their detail and sincerity. Kirito reached out with a gloved hand and caught one of them on the tip of his finger, observing the artificial caveat of the weather until it melted away from his body heat. Turning his gaze to the skies above, he watched its brethren cascade downwards in a flurry of un-orchestrated cold, decorating the streets of the vibrant town with a healthy coating of white. When he let the air trapped in his lungs out with a short _puff,_ it crystallized into a brief burst of mist and billowed away, eventually evaporating along with the snow.

_Nothing changes._

Turning his head, Kirito observed both the players and NPCs milling about, either chatting excitedly to each other or enjoying the sights the town offered on their own. A frown etched itself into his face, and it only grew deeper when he saw the naked great oak growing in the center of the square he sat in. The large tree had been stripped bare of leaves by the winter's tempests and the general abuse of two year's worth of time, and it had been further vandalized by the numerous New Year's resolutions tacked into its trunk. Its bare branches were laced with glowing lights to complete the illusion that it was some sort of altar for change, when really it was the result of a bunch of childish people looking for an excused to take their mind off things. The resolutions nailed so carelessly into the tree were also, Kirito knew, fruitless.

_Nothing ever changes._

Now that he thought about it, the lights were everywhere today; strung along the roofs of buildings, and linking the numerous streetlights that only extended the illumination that bathed every available surface. The very populace of Aincrad was preparing for the festivities that New Year's day brought with it, and the very air was buzzing in anticipation. Kirito flicked his eyes in a cursory manner towards the clock nearby, hanging off a post. Eleven-thirty at night, December thirty first. Just a half hour until he'd have to go home and spend money to replace his calendar. He was going to have to get used to saying the new year number rather than the previous one, an irritating transition in itself.

Although most of the players in Aincrad were still universally focused on clearing the game, still more had been unable to escape the annual ritual that called for them all to gather at one specific spot to celebrate the occasion. The question then had been, where? It had eventually been decided that the fiftieth floor would do, since everyone was hanging around somewhere near there to begin with. And so everyone had readied their decorations and resolutions and marched off to brighten up the main town.

Sighing, Kirito squirmed in his overcoat before leaning back in the bench he sat in. The town itself was overwhelmingly bright, sure...but as usual, he took more notice of the darkness lingering at its borders. Once the celebration had passed and the lights taken down, it would consume everything. So why turn them on in the first place?

_Why did I come here, again?_ he wondered blandly, watching a little knot of particularly young players run by, laughing with each other at some unknown joke. The very atmosphere was irritating him, really, and he obviously had much better things to do.

"Evening, Kii-bou."

_Oh, right._

Kirito didn't bother to do much in greeting as Argo the Rat slid onto the bench beside him. The information broker observed his face for a moment before craning her neck back to stare at the little papers with resolutions scrawled on them that were pinned to the oak's trunk. A small frown appeared on her face.

"Hideous, isn't it?"

Argo chuckled softly. "I suppose. I mean, it's not like any of those promises with be kept by the people who made them. And just look at that oak, it's durability is decreasing so fast they'll probably have to change it to an Immortal Object. Poor thing's already been beaten up by enough storms. It's even lost all of its leaves."

Kirito smiled and crossed his arms languidly over his chest. "Well, people have to do their thing," he sighed nonchalantly.

Argo snickered into her palm. "What about you? Aren't you a person too?"

"Well, I'm more disciplined."

"Stubborn, more like."

Kirito snorted and went back to staring at the lights. He broke his own silence, though.

"So was your information accurate?"

"Yeah," the information broker murmured as she absently organized her inventory. "It's going to happen here, and now. Still no word as to _what_ it is, though...absolutely zero intel leaked about that in particular. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see what happens."

Kirito nodded in understanding. About two weeks before the New Year, a rumor had come to life that something of great significance to the game would take place here. That had been a second reason for holding the festival on the fiftieth floor; the top guild leaders wanted to be present for any new developments in Sword Art Online. Objective information had been readily available everywhere, it had seemed. Subjective intel, on the other hand, had been nonexistent. It had spawned a sort of curiosity in the players of SAO, a curiosity that Kirito himself was far from immune to, and thus his presence here.

"A New Year's event, though..." he mused, placing his thumb to his chin. "There wasn't one last year. So what makes this one so special?"

Again, Argo shrugged. "Like I said, I shuffled through all my best sources and did plenty of personal research, but found nothing. Whoever allowed the rumor to start, whether it's Kayaba Akihiko or not, wanted the event to surprise everybody. That's what I think."

Narrowing his eyes, Kirito spared another glance at the clock. Eleven forty five.

"Well, at least we won't have to wait long," Kirito sighed, returning to his view of the square before him.

What he saw then caused his heart to jump into his throat.

"Hey, isn't that Asuna-san?" Argo asked curiously, tugging at his sleeve as she pointed out the already high profile girl.

"Stop pointing!" Kirito hissed. "She might look over here."

"I don't get it," Argo grumbled. "What's so bad about that?"

"Ah, well..." Kirito digressed, looking back at the square.

Asuna the Lightning Flash was doing her usual thing; that is, walking through a crowd of guys and drawing every last one of their attentions, and NPCs were without exception. The excessive amount of lights surrounding the area seemed to reflect off of the girl's honey-colored hair like gold, and it truly caused her to stand out in a crowd.

_But what's with the outfit? _Kirito thought, mind racing.

Asuna had, in fact, forgone her usual Knights of Blood light armor set in favor of something he'd never seen her in before. The Vice Commander was dressed in a murderously short white skirt that gave birth to a million fantasies at first glance, coupled with a cherry red sweater with a rather low cut neckline that caused more than a man's blood pressure to rise. Kirito had never really considered Asuna the type of girl to walk around in "chic" clothing, but the view before him made it obvious that she was not only capable of pulling it off, but with deadly accuracy as well.

_Although I don't think she was going for a seductive factor with that skirt, but she's gone and done it anyway..._

"Oh, Kirito!"

The Black Swordsman's eyebrows shot up when he realized that Asuna was making her way towards him. Unfortunately, this also meant that the glares of several jealous men were boring into his skull. Trying his best to ignore them, he raised his hand and eeked out, "Uh...hi."

The Vice Commander quirked an eyebrow. "What's up with you?"

"Ah...nothing," Kirito amended, letting his hand drop. Argo politely scooted to the end of the bench so Asuna could sit between them. Once she was situated, she got down to business.

"So I assume you've heard about the event that supposed to happen?"

Both Kirito and Argo nodded in confirmation. "I wonder what it'll be," he speculated, blowing his hair out of his eyes.

Asuna just shrugged and crossed her legs, apparently oblivious to the multitude of stares she and Kirito were receiving. Kirito had to suppress a sigh. This was going to become dirty gossip in no time.

"Oh, Asuna," Kirito voiced, drawing the girl's attention. "Not that it looks bad or anything, but...what's up with your clothing today?"

"Hm?" Asuna said, looking down at her attire. "What about it?"

"Well..." Kirito mulled, trying his best to come up with an explanation that was exempt from the word _hot. _"It's just that I don't really see you walking around in casual clothing. Most players don't, actually. They're sold in shops, but armor is usually better, so..."

Asuna let a sigh escape from her throat, cutting Kirito off mid-sentence. "Well it's the New Year and we're not on the front lines at the moment, so I figured I could relax just a little bit by wearing something a bit more comfortable. Sorry for being such a slacker."

"I wasn't calling you a slacker."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Hey wingnuts, it's almost time," Argo pointed out, gesturing at the clock nearby.

Kirito and Asuna followed her lead and realized that it was exactly eleven fifty-nine. If the rumor held true, something was going to happen in less than sixty seconds.

"Hey...Kirito..."

"Hm?" the Black Swordsman hummed, raising his head to look at Asuna.

Rarely enough, the Vice Commander was squirming in her seat.

"They say...well...you know what they say about the new year, don't you?"

Kirito tilted his head in confusion. "They say a lot of things about it. Which one do you mean in particular?"

To his astonishment, a slight flush had crept its way up the Vice Commander's neck.

"They say...your bonds with the last person you meet before New Year's will strengthen, and they will become...very special to you..."

In almost no time, Kirito was sharing Asuna's blush as she elaborated, but being the stubborn girl she was, she powered her way through the rest of her sentence.

"I thought about it, and...I realized that my bond with you is probably the most important one I have right now, so..." she gulped.

"H-Happy New Year, Ki-kun."

The clock ticked then, and it began to bong out the twelve rings that meant midnight. Startled by the sudden ambience, the two players were briefly distracted from the fact that their blushing was horribly out of hand. Meanwhile, Argo sighed into her sleeve.

_Hey, I'm here too, aren't I? _She thought in exasperation.

And so the night continued. Once the general excitement had died down considerably enough, a select number of people stepped into the middle of the square to say a few words about the New Year before retreating back into the crowd. Kirito knew that similar speeches were being made at similar locations all across the massive town where thousands of players had gathered to celebrate the occasion. Despite his misgivings about the festivities at first, the lights and the amiable chatting began to infect him. Maybe celebration during a death game wasn't so bad after all.

Once all of the speeches had been made, someone brought out a small army of recording crystals and began to play music. The slow, soothing tunes were soon reverberating across the square, and men and women alike began to pair up in order to dance with each other. In absolutely no time at all, both Kirito and Asuna was standing in the middle of a crowd of people swaying slowly to the tempo of the music, awkwardly trying to attract as little attention as possible while refraining from taking part in the activity. The movement of the dancers around them soon pushed the two against each other, however (much to Kirito's chagrin), and they were forced to arrange themselves into their own dancing stance.

"I'm afraid I don't know how to dance," he muttered under his breath, just barely succeeding in fighting his blush down as their bodies continued to press against each other.

"Well, me either, so I guess you won't be alone in your embarrassment," Asuna muttered back as they tried hopelessly to move to the tempo of the music. It was, to put it simply, impossibly awkward; feet stepped on feet, muffled curses were made, and blushes generally tried their best to appear on cheeks. As they moved, Kirito couldn't help but notice just how soft Asuna's hair was. She was tall for a girl, but he still had a couple inches on her, just enough for his nose to be level with her forehead. Every breath drew in another wave of the scent of strawberries, and the individual strands ghosted their way over his skin in an almost hypnotic manner. As the crowd fluctuated against them, Kirito felt the surprising delicacy of Asuna's body; she always carried a strong, dominating air around her. They somehow managed to survive the ordeal, however, and the moment the song ended they took advantage of the lax in the crowd to make their escape.

Tugging at the collar of her sweater, Asuna cleared her throat rather loudly and said in an equally conspicuous manner, "It's hot here today, isn't it?"

"Ah...yeah," Kirito agreed passively. "Probably because of all the people. Sorry for stepping on your feet so much."

"No, no, it's fine," the Vice Commander said too quickly.

"...Yeah," Kirito murmured, trying his best to forget the feeling of Asuna's bare thighs pressing against his.

"Anyway," the Lightning Flash continued, sounding more serious now, "What happened to that event that was supposed to take place at midnight? It's half past twelve and nothing's taken place yet. We have lookouts posted at all the other celebration spots and I haven't received any word at all."

"Hmm..." Kirito contemplated, staring up at the clock again. "Maybe Argo's information was wrong, for once..."

"I'm never wrong."

Both of them flinched noticeably when the information broker's voice suddenly interrupted their trains of thought. Looking up, they saw the short girl sitting perched on the back of the bench they'd been sitting on before. It was then that they noticed that she'd been there the whole time.

Argo let out an exasperated sigh.

_I'm here too, you know..._

"Well, if it's definitely going to happen," Kirito said, "Then when?"

His question was answered when the lights went out.

It was like a paradox. One moment, the brightness was debilitating; another, the darkness was immobilizing. Kirito froze when every single source of illumination was simultaneously snuffed out as if a giant finger had pinched out the flame of a candle. Almost immediately, panicked murmurs began to spread amongst the crowd as they tried to figure out the source of this complication. Confusion naturally turned into fear, and fear gave way to action as people began to shout and rustle about in agitation.

Kirito started when he felt a cold hand slip into his, chilled by the malice hanging in the air.

"Kirito-kun," whispered Asuna's voice in his left ear, "Is this the event? Please tell me it is."

"Ah...well, yes, I don't think it could possibly be anything else," he replied, trying his best to slow his own rapidly beating heart. There was something surreal about being plunged into absolute darkness. The lack of vision seemed to be physically pressing down on his chest, making it a little harder to breathe. Even within the deepest dungeons of Aincrad, there was enough light to see perfectly well. Now, though...

Asuna's grip around his fingers turned into one of iron and Kirito cringed in discomfort. What was with her? Why was she so worried?

Then something occurred to him.

"Asuna," he whispered to his left as the crowd continued to become more and more rowdy, "Are you afraid of the dark?"

There was a silence from the area to his left.

Then, "D-D-Don't be ridiculous! I'm not afraid of anything! I'm just nervous, is all, it's very hard to see..."

_She's obviously lying,_ he thought suspiciously as she continued to babble.

But why the intense fear?

Kirito was about to press her further when the event began.

"Good evening, people of Aincrad."

The amplified voice echoed ominously over the air, vibrating through his chest like a drum. It was probably a volume spell, used to increase the loudness of your voice to astonishing levels. And right now, it felt as if the voice was loud enough to be heard across the entire town.

"As many of you might have heard, this is the New Year's event," continued the baritone voice. Kirito narrowed his eyes in the darkness. The voice wasn't that of Kayaba Akihikko. No, this one was a bit higher, more emotional, more..._human._

"My identity is to remain anonymous," spoke the voice. "But I do bring something for you all...something to go with the beginning of a New Year."

The last syllable was punctuated with a shrill scream from behind Kirito. Whipping around, he wildly cast about for the source of the disturbance, all the while keep a vice like grip on Asuna's hand. The eternal blackness around him was infuriating; somehow, even the moon had been blotted out. Finally caving in, he activated his _Tracing Skill,_ closing his eyes in concentration. When they opened, they were imbued with a dark power which allowed him to see the thermal signatures of the people around him. Throwing his gaze from side to side, he checked out everyone's heat signatures until he spotted one that was rapidly disappearing.

"Someone in our midst has just passed from this world, and the world in which we all sleep," Went on the strange intruder. "He has died, and many more will die in my name. Things change when the New Year comes around. This time, it will bring the uprising of a new leader. Kayaba Akhiko himself will not stop me. I will cleanse this world of any opposition and establish myself as the supreme leader of all. Ponder on what has happened here today, and make your choices; will your oppose me, as many will, or accept the inevitable?"

The crowd rippled in shock as they finally realized that someone near them had fallen. The was an intense cacophony as they shuffled about, trying to locate the body. Kirito tensed when a woman's voice shrilled out,

"I've found him! Oh, god, he's dead!"

This claim was confirmed when something glowed in the distance, visible even without a tracking skill, and broke into a million miniature polygons, the marker of the death of a character avatar. Kirito gritted his teeth and switched off his thermal vision; the crowd was moving too wildly to discern any more information. Beside him, he heard Asuna take in a sharp breath at the woman's cry and absently squeezed her hand in comfort.

"Remember, I will kill again," whispered the ominous voice. "The victims may come daily, or weekly, or even hourly. You will never know where I shall strike next. And I am capable of blending in among you, able to walk by completely unnoticed. A phantom in the shadows, an adversary who cannot be beat. So I suggest that you openly pledge your allegiance to me now, or as quickly as possible, before you are potentially killed.

"That is all."

The baritone voice died out, then, and a sound like a phone being put down emanated from somewhere in the town.

The silence afterwards was deafening.

And then everybody panicked. Some began shouting out vows of allegiance to the mysterious killer. Others gathered their close friends and in game family members, as if staying together would protect them. Still others grabbed their subordinates by the collar and relayed orders from up top as the lights of the town began to slowly re-illuminate themselves, and soon enough the whole area was bathed in light once more.

Kirito and Asuna just continued staring at the sky above the heads of the crowd, stricken, as the rest of the players continued their uproar. Argo just sat at the bench, equally stunned, unable to say much of anything.

Finally, Kirito became the first to regain his focus. Baring his fangs, he said to Argo, "You know what to do." The tattooed girl nodded in affirmation and leapt backwards off the bench, quickly disappearing within the shadows to gather more information. Meanwhile, he readjusted his grip on Asuna's hand and said, "We have to find the Knights of Blood. Do you know where they are?"

"We were supposed to meet at the Gambler's Inn at the center square if anything important ever came up," the Vice Commander answered with equal steel in her voice. Obviously, the warrior was back in both of them.

"We'll go there first, then," Kirito decided. He let go of Asuna's hand before he moved; it seemed illogical to move around dragging the girl around everywhere, despite his disappointment. Turning, he headed towards the heart of the town, trusting Asuna to follow.

The Gambler's Inn was a small, modest establishment squatting between the more boastful _Armor Heaven, _and a rather suspicious looking store that supposedly taught witchcraft. Lights blazed from the windows of the inn, causing it to stand out among its rather dark neighbors. Kirito walked up to the door and pushed it open immediately, stepping inside. The seasoned wood of the floor creaked underneath his slight weight as he moved, underscoring the fact that there weren't a lot of people inside.

Casting about, Kirito found what he was looking for. Three people dressed in cloaks emblazoned with the KOB insignia sat in a semicircle in the largest table. Once Asuna joined him, he gestured towards the players and she nodded. Taking this as confirmation to proceed, he tried to take an empty chair as nonchalantly as possible. Asuna was the Vice Commander so her entrance was to be expected, but a lone beater like himself was never really welcome anywhere.

It seemed that this bunch was a bit more friendly than the rest. He only received one sneer and a couple cursory glances that held more respect than disdain. The one man who had sneered happened to be Kuradeel. Kirito could see the outline of the man's face despite the length of the hood of his cloak, and his stomach grumbled absently in distaste. No matter what the situation, Kuradeel was usually bad news, but Heathcliff supposedly trusted him so he was posted during many crucial missions.

"Kuradeel," Asuna greeted, and her subordinate nodded curtly in response. "Arnold. Hermes. I trust you know what occurred during the festival?"

"Of course we did!" Kuradeel erupted suddenly. "The lights went out, which would have taken an incredibly powerful spell to accomplish, and four players were killed!"

Kirito's breath hitched and Asuna went pale at the news. Four players? So the one death in their square hadn't been the only one.

"I was under the impression there had been only one death," Asuna murmured. "In any case, the assassin managed to douse every source of light on the fiftieth floor, and he spoke to us with an amplified voice. Can we assume that the culprit was a specialist in illusional magecraft?"

"I suppose, but...Asuna-sama, how are we going to stop this person?" Asked another one of the KOB members. Arnold, Kirito remembered.

"I don't know yet," the Vice Commander replied regrettably. "He didn't leave a lot of clues behind...none at all, if you don't count the excess use of illusionary magic. But let's go over the facts: he plans to clean out Aincrad of all human opposition and come out on top. He apparently plans on cleaning out the players he considers dangerous. Right?"

The four men at the table nodded in agreement.

"Although I don't think any of the deaths today were of any high-caliber players,"Asuna continued to muse. "The one Kirito-kun and I witnessed was of a level 45 player. That's hardly dangerous, at least to people like the front-liners."

Kuradeel made a guttural sound in the back of his throat. "My squad saw two of the deaths," he growled out. "They were both children, who'd hardly held a blade since the tutorial and never participated in any parties of level clearing. You may be right. Today was just an example."

Kirito cleared his throat.

Almost immediately, all attention at the table was diverted to him. It left him squirming slightly under the pressure of all their gazes. Off to the side, the fire crackled merrily in the hearth, but it cast long shadows wear it shone. Coughing again, he spoke his mind.

"I think...that we should compile a list of potential targets. Then we'd know who we should prioritize protection for."

Kuradeel unleashed his most epic sneer and scoffed, "I suggest you refrain from interfering with _guild activities,_ boy. In any case, there is no solid evidence to say that the culprit is even dangerous, so such precautions will be unnecessary. Furthermore-"

"Kuradeel!" Asuna snapped, cutting the man off. "The assassin is capable of killing multiple players simultaneously and is an apparent master of illusionary magecraft. He is _very_ dangerous, and his plan was so carefully laid out that we have almost no leads to take towards his capture. Such a list is absolutely necessary. That way, if one of them is attacked the assaulter may be seized and questioned. I find it a blunder to dismiss Kirito's proposition so easily."

Her subordinate's furious expression only deepened when the other two KOB members murmured, "She's right..."

Snorting, he sat down heavily in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "Fine, ignore me then," he said, acting like a spoiled child. "Do as you wish, Vice Commander."

Asuna just nodded at him coldly, and inwardly Kirito sighed in exasperation. He was starting to regret becoming a self proclaimed beater after that boss fight on the first floor. It had forced a distance between him and other people, not just as players, but as human beings as well. Empathetic connection with others was something he'd gotten used to missing.

"We should have all the high ranking players of the top guild carry distress signals with them that are linked to their guards' teleport crystals," Hermes said softly. "That way, one could reach the player under threat in time to help."

"Splendid idea, Hermes," Asuna nodded as everyone else murmured their approval. "The high ranking players should be able to teleport to each other, as well. Oh, and we should provide this for Kirito-kun as well," she added earnestly.

Kirito started and held his hands in front of him as if warding something off. "No, it's fine," he insisted. "I can take care of myself."

"Yes, let the boy save his own hide," Kuradeel muttered.

"No," Asuna said firmly. "You're a beater, sure, but you're also valuable to the clearing effort. You've got to be at least close to being the top player, if you don't already hold that status. It's within our ability to offer some protection, and I'll be damned if you don't get it."

Sighing, the Black Swordsman let his hands drop.

"Fine."

"Good. I'd hate to lose a party member."

Turning back to the rest of her audience, Asuna continued exercising her authority as Vice Commander. "We should investigate this floor first to find the assassin, so for now we can use this inn as a base. We'll have to book all the rooms so people won't interfere with our operations. I'll speak to Heathcliff about having the funds directed; our treasury's overflowing at this time of year in any case. I'm sure he's already arranging squads to comb the higher and lower floors, so we'll just take this one. Understood?"

Her subordinates nodded in confirmation. Asuna bid them all goodnight and they rose from their seats to leave, Kuradeel albeit a bit stubbornly. After they'd filed off the book their own rooms for the night, Kirito saw Asuna's shoulders sag. Turning his head, he asked if she was alright.

"It's hard to deal with boneheads like Kuradeel," she sighed in reply.

He laughed at that, and helped her get to her feet. "Well, we're all sleeping in separate rooms," he said. "So you won't have to tolerate his snoring, either."

"Kuradeel snores?"

"Someone as annoying as him has got to."

"Good point."

She'd bid Kirito goodnight then, and retired to her own room after booking one. She opened it with her key and didn't even bother to set up base; she just shuffled all her clothes away into her inventory before jumping into the shower. Closing her eyes in relaxation as the water cascaded smoothly down her lithe, bare body, Asuna allowed her mind to wander.

_There's always one crazy person in the middle of a nsea of normalcy,_ she thought as she dragged her thumb through the thin film of condensation that had gathered on the glass doors. She watched as it fogged up again nevertheless, and sighed in exhaustion.

_People never change._

* * *

**As some of you may have noted, I took a short leave of absence from writing due to the death of a close friend. I will not divulge the full details at the moment, but I slipped into a minor depression and a good friend had to come and knock some sense into me (quite literally, I bear the bruises). Some people have told me that I've bounced back from this at a surprisingly fast pace, considering how important this close friend was to me, but it makes sense to me personally. I hereby renounce my hiatus status and will resume my work on FF.N I look forward to receiving your views and reviews. :)**


End file.
